Despite interventions by the federal government, federal roads in the South-East remain a nightmare for road users due to their state of disrepair, LAWRENCE NJOKU reports.

On Friday, December 4, 2025, a fatal accident involving no fewer than 11 vehicles occurred on the Enugu axis of the dilapidated Enugu-Port Harcourt Highway. Two people lost their lives in the incident, while nine others were seriously injured.

The vehicles involved in the multiple accidents, including two trailers, a sports utility vehicle, and a Toyota Sienna car, among others, suffered immense damage as they collided with each other while navigating the only motorable lane of the dual carriageway.

The highway has been under construction for some time now, and in an attempt to avoid the dilapidated portions of the road, motorists now struggle for space on the only motorable lane.

The crash, which also destroyed goods worth several million naira, was just one of several that have been occurring in recent times.

On September 3, 2025, no fewer than 10 lives were lost in two different crashes on the same highway, with several survivors. The incident happened at about 9 am, when a Howo truck laden with bags of white cement, and en route to Abuja from Aba, Abia State, collided with a Toyota Corolla car that was attempting to overtake another truck on the same route.

A Foton bus and a Daihatsu Hijet mini bus, both driving against traffic, were also caught in the collision. Sadly, the truck and the Toyota Corolla car went up in flames, with five occupants of the car burning to death. Another passenger in the minibus later passed on.

The same day, at about 3 p.m. on the same road, another fatal crash occurred. This time, it involved a Sino truck and a tricycle. The truck, laden with cement and driving against traffic from Garriki, Enugu, to Nenwe in Aninri Local Council, on the same Enugu inward-bound lane, rammed into the tricycle, leading to the death of its four occupants.

Federal highways in the South-East are making life unbearable for residents and road users, despite the federal government’s intervention. Journeys that should ordinarily take an hour or so end up taking several hours because of the nature of the roads.

No thanks to the failed/delayed execution of reconstruction contracts awarded by the federal government, which have been left uncompleted for years. Some roads that fall into this category include the Okigwe-Afikpo Federal Highway, Agbani-Amagunze Road, Agbani-Nara-Isu (Ebonyi) Road, Nsukka-Enugu Ezike-Amakpa Road; Owerri-Onitsha Highway; Enugu-Onitsha Highway, and the Enugu-Makurdi Highway.

All of these roads have continued to pose difficulties to motorists, as avoidable crashes have occurred almost daily. In most cases, the bad state of the roads has continued to restrict motorists to one lane of the dual carriageways, resulting in numerous fatal crashes. In particularly hazardous areas of some roads, articulated vehicles can easily overturn with their containers, while others are on the verge of being cut off by gully erosion.

A trip from Enugu to Aba, in Abia State, for instance, is done by navigating only two lanes of the battered road. Due to the poor condition of the road, motorists from Enugu are restricted to one lane until they reach the Enugu-Abia boundary. From the boundary, vehicles begin to ply the dual carriageway intermittently until they get to Okigwe Junction in Imo state.

It is at this point that motorists can fully operate on designated lanes up to Umuahia, the capital of Abia State. This part of the highway was rehabilitated through the SUKUK funding of 2018 and 2021 by the federal government.

At the moment, however, one section of the road from Enugu is undergoing rehabilitation. The only concern is that while this section is being rehabilitated, the area that is now motorable is weakening by the day due to the volume of traffic on it.

Enugu-Onitsha Highway
DESPITE the intervention of the telecommunication giant, MTN Communications, following a tax credit agreement it reached with the federal government, the highway has remained a nightmare. Motorists and commuters spend unnecessarily long hours plying the road.

The Federal Government approved, in 2022, a N203 billion takeover of the Enugu-Onitsha Road under the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, in collaboration with MTN. The agreement was to enable the telecom giant to complete the dualisation of the 110-kilometre road.

Ugwu Onyeama to Nineth Mile axis in Enugu State on the expressway is less than a ten-minute drive. But this Christmas, travellers spend between four and five hours on the road as all manner of vehicles struggle to navigate the only motorable lane. Several lives and goods had been lost in the past on the axis.

In January 2025, a fuel tanker explosion rocked the Ugwu Onyeama axis, claiming 18 lives, with several others left injured. A trailer laden with petrol was struggling to navigate the steep hill, but had a brake failure and rammed into oncoming vehicles. It did not take long for the substance to explode, and it ignited everywhere.

Human beings, vehicles and whatever was in sight were burnt beyond recognition. For days, movements were halted on that axis as rescue efforts focused on clearing the debris.

Since the incident occurred, repair work has not improved the bad lane to free up both lanes of the highway. Vehicles are still restricted on the repaired side.

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, had earlier threatened to terminate the contract should the MTN fail to pay contractors working on the road N15 billion monthly for the next 10 months to fast-track the completion of the highway. The Federal Government also extended the timeframe for project realisation to May 2026.

While the deadline is a few months away, the MTN has continued to reassure the public that it is committed to the actualisation of the project in line with the agreement reached with the Federal Government.

Ninth Mile Enugu – Makurdi Road
The deep gullies that dot this road have continued to cause many motorists, especially those in smaller vehicles, toabandon sections of it for heavy-duty truck drivers. Indeed, most parts of this road have completely failed, thereby increasing the pain of travellers from Enugu to the North.

Presently, many motorists travelling to the North have switched to the Enugu-Ugwuogo Road, constructed by the Enugu State government, to avoid the bad portions from Ninth Mile to the Opi junction in Nsukka.

The Federal Government has, however, intervened on the road by awarding contracts for its reconstruction. From a single lane, the government has approved its conversion to a dual carriageway. A construction firm, China Hub, was assigned the task of reconstructing it from the Ninth Mile axis in Enugu.

In September, the Federal Government, through Umahi, flagged off the second phase of reconstructing the North-Central corridors to the South-East. The 260-kilometre highway is being funded by the China Exim Bank and is estimated to cost $950 million.

Okigwe -Afikpo Road
The Guardian gathered that the Federal Government is determined to expand and dualise the road from Okigwe to the Abia State University axis, and Afikpo in Ebonyi State. The contract was awarded to Hitech Construction Company. The road failed and had been abandoned for years, yet it remained accessible from Okigwe to Afikpo. Reconstruction work has, however, started from the Ebonyi axis of the road.

A recent visit to the area revealed that it would take immense effort to realise what the Federal Government intends to achieve on the road. Although the contractor is fully on site, the spate of erosion that has eaten into the environment stirs a level of concern about how quickly the contractor can give the road the needed facelift. This explains why commuters are appealing for efforts to be stepped up, given the economic importance of the road to the people.

Findings by The Guardian show that the Federal Government is intervening in various major highways in the South-East. The challenge, however, is that none of these roads has been completed after years.

John Okezie,a transporter on the Aba-Enugu route, admits that there is an improved presence of road construction workers on the Aba to Okigwe axis, stressing, however, “they are working on snail speed”

He emphasised that the challenge that federal roads in the region face is that many of them easily fail before completion. He blamed the development on poor monitoring and supervision.

Speaking at one of the bad spots where various vehicles took turns to cross on the Enugu-Onitsha highway, a businessman, Joseph Uwa, explained the frustration of commuters travelling on the road. He said that a journey of four hours now takes about nine hours due to the level of deterioration.

“This particular spot has always been an issue; unfortunately, it is the only option available since the other lane is overgrown and abandoned. When you get to Oji River Junction, instead of driving straight, you will make a turn into Oji River town. That is because the road is bad. Then, from the Oji River, you do another 20 to 30 minutes’ drive to rejoin the expressway. But you cannot manoeuvre here because there is no other way,” he stated

Uwa, who commended the MTN contractors for “doing well on the road,” urged that they speed up efforts to ensure its completion in record time, as it is taking much longer than anticipated.
Another resident, Christian Ikechukwu, however, commended the government for awarding contracts for the reconstruction of the roads, stressing, however, that “we will be glad if they speed up completion.”

Ikechukwu, a civil rights lawyer, added, “It is taking too much time. We have seen contractors, but we don’t think they want to complete the work in record time. So, it is left for the government to match words with action and provide them with resources to complete the roads accordingly for the benefit of the people.”

Despite all these lamentations, Umahi has assured that the Federal Government will complete all the projects it started in the South-East with a view to enhancing transportation and boosting the region’s economy.

He explained that several road projects had been awarded, stressing that while some are ongoing, others would soon start, assuring that the desire “is to leave the zone better than we met it. He also said that no government in recent times has awarded or embarked on the level of “road rehabilitation and reconstruction in the South-East than President Tinubu’s administration”.