According to Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, the North West region currently has the highest number of ongoing road construction projects in the country
Speaking during the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja, Umahi noted that several major roads in the North West zone are undergoing reconstruction or expansion.
Some of these include the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressway, the Sokoto-Zamfara-Katsina-Kaduna road, and the Kaduna Eastern Bypass, among others.
“The Northwest is fully loaded. You have the Kano, which we terminated from Julius Berger and that is Section 1 and Section 3, a 118 km, which we have re-awarded to Infiouest on the total contract sum of N252bn. We also injected street lights with 5 km of reinforced concrete pavement has been completed,” the Minister said.
He further noted that Section 2, which is 64 km on both sides (128 km total), has been redesigned with rigid pavement and now costs N525 billion.
Construction activities, he explained, are actively ongoing across the region. Solar-powered street lighting is also being installed along these highways, as the roads are being prepared for toll collection once completed.
Umahi added that the stretch from Sokoto to Zamfara, Zamfara to Katsina, and on to Kaduna covers a total of 750 km of dual carriageway. This section alone is valued at N872 billion.
He revealed that the Ministry of Works inherited 2,604 road projects from the previous administration. Out of these, 65 are actively under construction. The total cost of the inherited projects stood at about N13 trillion, and the government owes contractors approximately N1 trillion for jobs already completed.
Due to the depreciation of the naira, the overall project costs have now increased to about N20 trillion. Umahi also said that 440 road projects are currently being carried out under the approval and direction of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In just two years, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has completed 260 palliative road projects nationwide, costing N208 billion,” he stated.
In addition to those, Umahi noted that 29 large-scale infrastructure projects valued at over N2 trillion are also underway. These developments are meant to boost the economy and improve road networks across the country.
He added that four major “Legacy Projects” are in progress, with some expected to be commissioned by President Tinubu himself as part of his second anniversary in office.
