Abuja-Kaduna Road: House Wants Julius Berger to Resume Work, Asks FG to Provide Security

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives at the plenary yesterday called on the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola to urgently direct Julius Berger Plc which is the contractor handling Abuja-Kaduna expressway reconstruction back to site to complete the work.

The House also called on the federal government to deploy military personnel and material resources as well as intelligence necessary to secure the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway to enable the contractor resume work without risk to personnel and equipment.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance, sponsored by Hon. Garba Datti Mohammed.

Moving the motion, Mohammed recalled that in March 2021, Fashola announced that the Federal Executive Council had approved the contract for the rehabilitation of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway, amongst other approvals with a delivery date of December 2022.

He also recalled that the Minister announced that the firm, which had initially been contracted to undertake the rehabilitation work on the road, Julius Berger, would also be responsible for the reconstruction of the road.

He however said following incessant and rampant incidents of banditry along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, the contractor withdrew its workers from the road for security reasons.

While asserting that the security situation has recently vastly improved along that stretch of road, gridlock on it still exposes commuters held up in it to the probability of bandit and terrorist attacks with their attendant loss of lives and property.

The lawmaker therefore said circumstances have made it urgent that the contractor to be immediately brought back to site to complete the phase of the contract especially the stretch between Jere and Kaduna.

He said, “At the time of the withdrawal by the contractor, at least one half of the stretch of road had been graded and covered only in laterite which, after the intense rainfall of the past few months, has given way to gorges and potholes that have left the road un-motorable and severely slowed down traffic such that a journey that would ordinarily last one and a half hours now took three hours to complete.

“The Abuja-Kaduna highway is the gateway between the North and the South of Nigeria and the major link road to the North West and North East as well as to many neighbouring countries.

“The Abuja-Kaduna highway is the key outlet for the transportation of persons, commodities and goods across Nigeria and this is evident in the extraordinary traffic on it.

“The situation on the Abuja-Kaduna Highway has become a debilitating drawback for the Nigerian economy, that if not immediately rectified, spells doom for the economy and the social life of Nigerians.”

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its Committee on Works to liaise with the Minister as well as the heads of the relevant security agencies towards ensuring the implementation of the above resolutions and report back within 3 weeks for further legislative action.