… Ojudu, residents allege ‘quiet substitution’ of project

… Umahi orders contractors back to site

… Says second lane will get concrete makeover

Residents of Ondo and Ekiti states have expressed concerns over the fate of the 50-kilometre Akure/Ado-Ekiti highway dualisation project, awarded at N95.9 billion, after contractors abandoned the site with only one carriageway delivered.

According to residents and commuters, the dual carriageway promised in May 2023 was supposed to have been completed by May 2025.

The original contract for the road, valued at about N30 billion, was awarded to Dantata & Sawoe in November 2019 but was later cancelled.

On 29 March 2023, the Federal Executive Council approved its re-award as a 50-kilometre dualisation project for N95.98 billion.

The Akure–Ondo State boundary section was awarded jointly to Samchase Nigeria Limited and Horizon Construction Company Limited for N46.68 billion with a 24-month completion period, while the section from the Ekiti boundary towards Ado-Ekiti was awarded to Kopek Construction Limited for N49.29 billion with a 30-month timeline.

The project was formally flagged off in May 2023 by the former minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, and the minister of state for transport, Ademola Adegoroye.

Fashola assured the public that the road would cost over N90 billion and be completed within 24 months and that financing had been secured through the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme, guaranteeing that construction would not stop until completion.

But those assurances have crumbled as residents emphasised that the May 2025 deadline has come and gone with no visible progress on the second carriageway, with many questioning whether the federal government ever intended to deliver a full dual carriageway or if the project was quietly scaled down.

Tomisin Akinbode, a resident of Akure who runs a small business along the highway, stated that “they built bridges wide enough for two lanes, but we only have one. It is painful to see the infrastructure for a dual carriageway just sitting there, abandoned.

“We were told in 2023 that the road would be completed within 24 months. Now we are in August 2026 and nothing is happening on the other side. Where did our money go? The contractors have vanished, and no one is telling us if they are ever coming back.”

A motorist, Akeem Olorunsola, who expressed similar dismay, said, “We need that second lane to further reduce travel time. It feels like we have been deceived. They showed us a dream of a modern highway, then quietly walked away. If the government has changed the plan, they should tell us honestly. But silence only breeds suspicion.”

Also, former Senator Babafemi Ojudu, who represented Ekiti Central in the Senate between 2011 and 2015, has raised the alarm over the non-completion of the project, stressing that “Nigeria has happened to the Akure–Ado-Ekiti Road”.

Ojudu, who demanded that the Minister of Works, David Umahi, should provide answers to the project, stated that a “refurbished” single carriageway cannot be quietly substituted for a dual carriageway worth nearly N96 billion without public explanation.

“We received with great joy the news that the contract for the reconstruction and dualisation of this critical road had been awarded. Our excitement grew when the contractors mobilised to site, cleared the path for a second carriageway and began constructing bridges and other structures designed to accommodate a dual carriageway.

“But what has ultimately been delivered? One rehabilitated carriageway. The heavy equipment has disappeared, the construction sites have gone quiet, and the proposed second carriageway appears to have been abandoned. We are now left with bridges and earthworks prepared for a dual carriageway, but only a single carriageway to show for the enormous contract awarded.

“This road is too important to the economic and social life of Ondo and Ekiti states to disappear into the familiar fog of abandoned contracts, altered specifications and official silence.

When contacted, the Controller of Works in Ondo State, Olajide Hussein, disclosed that the minister of works has directed the contractor to resume work immediately and that the federal government has changed plans to use concrete for the remaining section instead of asphalt.

“The Honourable Minister has directed the contractor to resume work at the site immediately. So we should be expecting commencement any moment from now. You know the federal government has re-awarded the other section to be on concrete instead of asphalt for the first section. So any moment from now, the contractor will resume work on site.

“The contractor has about twelve months to complete that second carriageway. So I believe when they resume, it will be at a very, very fast pace,” Hussein said.