The Presidency has attributed the recent deterioration of the Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressway to the contractor handling the project, describing the situation as an isolated incident.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, stated this on Wednesday while speaking on Channels Television about the condition of the highway and President Bola Tinubu’s directive for its redesign and complete reconstruction.
Dare said the incident should not be taken as a reflection of the performance of federal road projects nationwide, noting that several other roads had either been completed or were progressing without similar challenges.
“I think that first, these are isolated cases. And we all know by the nature of road construction, during rainy season, you encounter problems like this,” Dare said.
He explained that while the government was responsible for identifying roads in need of repairs and providing the necessary funding, contractors were expected to deliver quality work.
According to him, the contractor’s explanation for the road failure did not absolve the company of responsibility.
“Whatever played out yesterday, we had all the stakeholders there. And it’s important that even the contractor came out, even though he gave excuses, it showed a failure on their part,” he said.
His comments followed an inspection of the troubled road by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, on Tuesday.
Umahi apologised to motorists over the poor state of the highway and criticised the concessionaire responsible for its reconstruction. He subsequently directed plans for the total reconstruction of the road, saying palliative repairs would not provide a lasting solution.
Dare also defended the Federal Government’s response, saying the prompt intervention by the Works Minister, members of the National Assembly and other stakeholders demonstrated the government’s willingness to address infrastructure challenges.
“Government has a responsibility to identify the roads that need to be fixed. Government has a responsibility to provide the funding. And then, the next responsibility goes to the contractors to do what is necessary,” he said.
He added that the Benin-Agbor-Asaba road should not be used to judge the progress of all federal road projects.
“I said these are isolated, but we have quite a number of other roads where there are no complaints, where the roads have been fixed,” Dare stated.
On the pace of road construction across the country, Dare said motorists might experience temporary inconvenience while projects were being executed in phases.
He cited the Abuja-Lokoja corridor, which he said he recently travelled with about 65 journalists, as an example of a road where completed sections were already visible while construction continued on other stretches.
“A 100% solution, and I… you know, solutions are progressive,” he said.
Dare compared road construction to building a house, explaining that projects are often completed in stages before the entire structure is finished.
“It’s like a house construction; a house is not built in a day, it’s progressive. Until the roof comes on, the rain will still pour down on the building,” he said.
He said the Federal Government was currently implementing major road projects across the country, including five legacy projects and about 320 other roads.
“Is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on top of what’s happening? Absolutely. We’re talking about five legacy roads; we’re talking about 320 roads across the length and breadth of our country,” Dare said.
The Benin-Agbor-Asaba corridor has recently come under intense scrutiny following worsening road conditions, which have caused traffic disruptions, vehicle damage and increased transportation and business costs along the route.
