SOKOTO — The Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Sen. Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, says the current administration in Nigeria inherited dilapidated roads and has been tackling them headlong.
He made the remark on Sunday during an inspection tour of Section Three of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway by the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, and some members of the National Assembly. The senator said that the administration had been “reconstructing existing roads and opening new ones to connect the six geo-political zones of the country.”
“Today, we are here on this section of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway,” Nwaebonyi said. “What is happening here is amazing. If you look at the quality of the road being done, you will know that President Bola Tinubu is building roads that will last for over 100 years.”
He stressed the centrality of road infrastructure to national development. “Nigeria may have many problems ranging from insecurity to poor infrastructure, but road remains key because, for you to build a school, farm or hospital, road is number one for accessing them,” he said.
Engineers representative on site, Mr Oyewande Aliu, noted that “the construction of the section started in November 2025.” He added, “Between February and now, we have achieved up to 25km on the left hand side and we have achieved up to 9.4km on the right hand side, and the work is still progressing. The only reason we have not achieved more than that is because there is going to be a bridge at the interchange, so we had to leave that place.”
He noted that “there were also locations where culverts would be constructed,” and said “We have done clearance up to 145km.”
The Managing Director of Hightech Construction Company Ltd., Mr Dany Abboud, said that “the section three spanned 162.4km.” “We are aiming to finish all the clearing before the end of this rainy season,” he said. “We are working in a big laterite area. We have a little delay but we are aiming to have better production,” Abboud said.
According to him, the terrain is challenging. “We have a lot of hills, a lot of valleys. In some areas, we have valleys that are up to 20 to 22 metres deep,” he said. He promised that the company “will finish construction of the section ahead of the 36 months given to it,” and added, “We are also promising that it will be based on international standards.”