FG: Benin–Onitsha Road Concession Limiting Immediate Intervention

• Says road’s condition predated Tinubu administration The Federal Ministry of Works has rejected claims that the Benin–Onitsha road has been deliberately neglected by the federal government, saying the condition of the corridor predates the administration of President Bola Tinubu and that its intervention is constrained by an existing concession agreement. The ministry, in a statement signed by its Director of Information and Public Relations, Mohammed Ahmed, said while concerns over the condition of the road were legitimate, they should be considered within the context of inherited infrastructure deficits, contractual obligations and the broader road construction programme of the present administration. The ministry said the federal government inherited a vast network of deteriorating roads and bridges when Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, arguing that it was unrealistic to expect every inherited road to be reconstructed within three years. It said the Benin–Onitsha corridor should therefore not be presented as a problem created by the present administration. According to the ministry, the more relevant questions are what the government inherited, what it is currently fixing, the contractual constraints surrounding particular projects and what measures are being taken to accelerate delivery. It specifically pointed to the contractual status of the Benin–Asaba section of the corridor, which was incorporated into the federal government’s Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) as a value-added concession. The ministry said official records of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) described the 125-kilometre Benin–Asaba Expressway as a 25-year concession designed to attract private-sector investment for the development and management of the road. It explained that under the concession model, the road pavement and the entire right-of-way are concessioned for development and management by the concessionaire, stressing that the Minister of Works could not simply terminate the arrangement and award the road to another contractor without regard to existing contractual and legal obligations. “The government is bound by law. It is bound by contract. And it must observe due process,” the ministry said, warning that arbitrary termination of the concession could expose the federal government to litigation and substantial financial claims. It said the ministry had nevertheless been engaging the concessionaire over the pace of work and demanding improved performance. The ministry added that the federal government began reviewing inherited highway concession agreements in 2025 to address issues relating to transparency, accountability, performance and value for money. The statement also rejected the suggestion that the Tinubu administration had done little for the South-east, listing several major road projects being executed or advanced across the region. These, it said, include the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway, Onueke Highway and Flyover, Calabar–Ebonyi–Benue Trans-Sahara Superhighway, rehabilitation and dualisation of the Enugu–Abakaliki–Ogoja Road, dualisation of the Afikpo–Okigwe Road, access roads linking the Second Niger Bridge to Asaba and Onitsha, rehabilitation of the Aba–Owerri Road, rehabilitation of the Onitsha–Owerri Expressway, rehabilitation of the Enugu–Port Harcourt Expressway and dualisation of the Aba–Ikot Ekpene Road. The ministry also cited the reopening in April 2026 of an initial 15-kilometre completed section of the Enugu–Onitsha Expressway as evidence of ongoing intervention in the region. It said criticism of the Benin–Onitsha road was legitimate, but argued that such criticism should be accompanied by recognition of projects being executed elsewhere in the South-East. “Criticism is necessary in a democracy. Government officials must be questioned. Ministers must be held accountable. Contractors must be challenged. And poor roads must be reported,” the ministry said. “But criticism should not become a selective memory,” it added. The ministry said the government had also taken steps to confront underperforming contractors and concessionaires, citing comments by the minister in June 2026 warning contractors who failed to meet their contractual obligations. It maintained that the ministry’s inability to immediately terminate an existing concession should not be interpreted as unwillingness to act. “There is a difference between being unable to lawfully terminate a contract and being unwilling to act. Those two things must not be confused,” it said. The ministry further rejected suggestions that infrastructure projects were being allocated according to political support, saying the federal government’s road programme covered all six geopolitical zones. It said the South-east, like every other part of the country, deserved good roads and other infrastructure, but maintained that infrastructure policy should be assessed on the basis of projects delivered, projects under construction and the constraints affecting their implementation. The ministry acknowledged that road users along the Benin–Onitsha corridor continue to face delays, vehicle damage and safety concerns, stressing that these complaints remained valid. It said the appropriate response was for the government to continue pressing the concessionaire, enforcing contractual obligations and using all lawful mechanisms available to secure improved performance. The ministry also pointed to broader funding constraints confronting the road sector, noting that the government had been forced in some cases to adjust project scopes to concentrate available resources on the most critical sections. It cited the Abuja–Lokoja project, where the scope of one section was reduced from 49.28 kilometres to 28 kilometres to enable available funding to be concentrated on the most critical portions of the alignment. According to the ministry, the experience underscores the complexity of financing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit and the need for sustainable funding and maintenance arrangements. It maintained that the ultimate test of the Tinubu administration should not be whether every inherited road had been completed within three years, but whether there was a credible programme for addressing the infrastructure deficit and whether projects were moving. The ministry said the Benin–Onitsha corridor remained important to the federal government and pledged that it would continue to engage the concessionaire and pursue lawful measures to secure improved performance. It also urged Nigerians to assess the administration’s infrastructure record based on the totality of projects being executed across the country rather than isolating one road from the wider programme. “The Benin–Onitsha road deserves fixing,” the ministry said, adding that the circumstances surrounding its condition, the contractual obligations of the concessionaire and the government’s ongoing interventions should all form part of the public discussion. It said the corridor should ultimately be treated not as a political weapon but as an example of the need for Nigeria to develop sustainable mechanisms for infrastructure financing, delivery and maintenance.