Activist appeals to FG on urgency of neglected Lokoja-Abuja Expressway

Kogi-born political activist, Comrade Usman Okai Austin, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to extend the same urgency and funding dedicated to the Abuja-Kaduna expressway to the dilapidated Lokoja-Abuja highway.

Speaking to journalists in Anyigba, Kogi State, Okai described the slow pace of work on the vital corridor as alarming.

He alleged that the Federal Government awarded portions of the project to obscure contractors who lack the capacity for the job and are operating without adequate supervision.

Okai urged President Tinubu to direct the Minister of Works to reassign the contracts to well-equipped, reputable construction firms and ensure steady funding for the project.

“Commuters are suffering. People are spending nights trapped between Lokoja and Abuja, yet this is the major artery connecting the Federal Capital Territory to the southern part of the country,” Okai said.

He noted that the approximately 200-kilometre highway—a critical national link connecting Northern Nigeria to the South-West, South-East, and South-South—was originally awarded in 2006 toward the end of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Divided into multiple sections at an initial cost of about ₦42 billion, the project was slated for completion within 30 months.

However, the road has suffered two decades of setbacks, stalling across the Yar’Adua, Jonathan, and Buhari administrations amid repeated contract reviews, cost augmentations, and funding bottlenecks.

While the Tinubu administration intervened in late 2025 and early 2026 by terminating contracts of underperforming firms and reawarding key sections—including a March 2026 award to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc—Okai maintained that the reality on the ground has not changed.

“Unfortunately, there is no sign of Julius Berger on that stretch. Instead, the unknown contractors are still there doing nothing, claiming poor funding,” the activist stated. “Whatever the case may be, it is time for decisive action because Nigerians are going through hell on that road daily.”

Okai called on the Minister of Works to treat the Lokoja-Abuja corridor as a top national priority to end the daily hardship faced by motorists and travelers.