A 125 kilometre stretch between Akwanga, Kaduna and Jos is now under construction, the latest section of a planned 700 kilometre superhighway President Bola Tinubu is billing as the fourth flagship road project of his administration, meant to strengthen national integration, improve road safety and open up trade across the North Central and North East.
Represented at the flag off ceremony by All Progressives Congress National Chairman Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, Tinubu said the corridor, approved by the Federal Executive Council, is being built in five phased sections, Akwanga to Kaduna to Jos, Jos to Bauchi, Bauchi to Gombe, Gombe to Biu, and Biu to Maiduguri, to keep delivery efficient. He had flagged off the Gombe to Biu section a month earlier, on June 4, 2026.
The superhighway launch gave Tinubu an occasion to report progress across his administration’s other major road projects nationwide. Section one of the Lagos Calabar Coastal Highway is largely complete, he said, with section two in Ogun State at sixty percent. Further along, sections three A and B in Akwa Ibom and Cross River stand at twenty percent, sections four A and B in Akwa Ibom at five percent, and section five is under construction after being awarded. On the Sokoto to Badagry Superhighway, progress varies by state: forty percent in Sokoto, sixty percent in Kebbi, eighteen percent in Ogun, with the Oyo section still being mobilised. The Trans Sahara Trade Route linking Calabar to Abuja through Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa has reached fifteen percent completion in Ebonyi, with mobilisation underway in Benue.
Tinubu directed the Minister of Works, working alongside the Surveyor General and affected state governors, to plan ahead for expansion, tolling systems and long term maintenance, and urged contractors to treat the projects as development partnerships that train and employ Nigerian youth rather than simple construction contracts. Minister of Works David Umahi, speaking at the ceremony, said the pace of work across thirty five states, despite ongoing economic pressure, reflects a commitment to infrastructure that goes beyond politics, part of what the administration calls its Renewed Hope agenda.
