Activist slams FG over neglect, poor funding of Lokoja-Abuja highway

A Kogi-born political activist, Usman Okai Austin, has known as on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to offer the Lokoja-Abuja freeway the identical stage of consideration and funding because the Abuja-Kaduna expressway.

Speaking to journalists in Anyigba, Kogi State, Okai expressed concern over the gradual progress of labor on the highway, accusing the Federal Government of awarding components of the challenge to contractors he described as inexperienced and poorly supervised.

He urged Tinubu to instruct the Minister of Works to switch the contracts to respected building corporations with the gear and capability to finish the challenge.

“Commuters are suffering. People are spending nights trapped between Lokoja and Abuja, yet this is the major artery connecting the Federal Capital Territory to the southern part of the country,” Okai stated.

The activist recalled that the roughly 200-kilometre freeway was first awarded in 2006, in the direction of the top of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.

The challenge, which was divided into a number of sections, had an preliminary contract worth of about ₦42 billion and was anticipated to be accomplished inside 30 months.

However, almost twenty years later, the highway stays unfinished after dealing with repeated delays below the administrations of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. The setbacks had been linked to contract critiques, elevated prices and insufficient funding.

Although the Tinubu administration took steps to handle the scenario between late 2025 and early 2026 by cancelling contracts awarded to some underperforming corporations and reassigning main sections, together with a bit awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in March 2026, Okai stated there was little proof of progress on the website.

“Unfortunately, there is no sign of Julius Berger on that stretch. Instead, the unknown contractors are still there doing nothing, claiming poor funding,” the activist acknowledged.

He added: “Whatever the case may be, it is time for decisive action because Nigerians are going through hell on that road daily.”

Okai appealed to the Minister of Works to make the Lokoja-Abuja freeway a serious precedence, saying pressing intervention was wanted to ease the difficulties confronted by motorists and different travellers.