Alltimepost.com Sincerity of Purpose
The 125-kilometre Benin–Asaba corridor is far more than a stretch of federal highway connecting two neighboring states. It is a critical economic artery linking communities and markets across the South-West, South-South and South-East, facilitating the movement of people, agricultural produce, manufactured goods, commercial vehicles and essential services. When the road fails, Ugolor argues, Nigeria’s economy pays the price. A blocked highway translates into lost productive hours, higher transport costs, damaged goods, disrupted supply chains, increased vehicle operating costs and heightened risks to commuters.
The worsening crisis on the Benin–Asaba Road has assumed a new dimension, with human rights and environmental activist, and Executive Director of the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ), Rev. David Ugolor, calling for an immediate emergency intervention backed by a comprehensive transparency and accountability inquiry into the controversial concession of the strategic highway.
Ugolor, through The Common Good Letter, welcomed the decision of the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, to personally inspect the troubled corridor and engage the concessionaire, independent engineers, officials of the Federal Ministry of Works and the Edo State Government.
But he has warned that the minister’s intervention must not end with another inspection tour.
According to him, the Benin–Asaba crisis should become a defining test of Nigeria’s commitment to transparency, responsible public-private partnerships and citizen-centred governance.
His intervention is particularly significant because it comes at a moment when public anger over the condition of the road has intensified, with motorists, transport operators, traders and other road users reportedly enduring prolonged gridlock and severe hardship.
Umahi recently announced plans to inspect the highway and engage stakeholders, while alleging that the concessionaire removed more than 30 kilometres of asphalt without completing the rehabilitation, leaving Nigerians to suffer the consequences.
For Ugolor, that allegation raises questions that cannot be answered by political statements alone.
“Who authorised the removal? What engineering assessment justified it? Who certified the work? What happened to the removed asphalt? What milestones was the concessionaire required to meet?”
These, he argues, are not merely technical questions. They are questions of public accountability.
A Road That Carries More Than Traffic
The 125-kilometre Benin–Asaba corridor is far more than a stretch of federal highway connecting two neighboring states. It is a critical economic artery linking communities and markets across the South-West, South-South and South-East, facilitating the movement of people, agricultural produce, manufactured goods, commercial vehicles and essential services. When the road fails, Ugolor argues, Nigeria’s economy pays the price.
A blocked highway translates into lost productive hours, higher transport costs, damaged goods, disrupted supply chains, increased vehicle operating costs and heightened risks to commuters.
For the truck driver, it means lost income.
For the farmer, it can mean produce arriving late or spoiled.
For the trader, it means unpredictable logistics.
For the patient, student or traveler, it can mean hours of uncertainty.
And for businesses dependent on reliable transportation, it means rising operating costs.
That is why, in Ugolor’s view, the road crisis cannot be reduced to a dispute between the government and a private concessionaire.
“The road belongs to Nigerians,” he insists.
The Numbers Must Be Explained
Ugolor’s intervention also brings the financial architecture of the project into sharp focus.
Official records of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) identify the Benin–Asaba highway as Route 1 of the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), covering 125 kilometres and operating under a 25-year concession.
ICRC records Africa Plus Partners Nigeria Limited Consortium as the concessionaire and Benin–Asaba Expressway Concession Company Ltd as the special-purpose vehicle.
The project is currently listed in the contract-renegotiation phase, with commercial close recorded at approximately ₦87.26 billion.
There is, however, another figure that has entered the public domain.
In January 2024, the then Edo State Government announced a ₦228 billion agreement involving InfraCorp and AAA Infrastructure Nigeria Limited for the reconstruction of the Benin–Asaba Expressway, with the state participating as an equity investor under the wider 25-year HDMI concession.
For Ugolor, the existence of these figures should not generate speculation.
It should generate clarity.
What exactly is the relationship between the ICRC-recorded commercial-close value and the subsequently reported ₦228 billion transaction?
What is the financing structure?
Who bears which risks?
What commitments have been made by the Federal Government, Edo State Government and other public institutions?
What guarantees exist?
What happens if the concession fails?
These are precisely the questions that, Ugolor argues, responsible governance demands.
PPP Must Never Mean Public Silence
One of the strongest features of Ugolor’s intervention is that he does not reject the principle of Public-Private Partnerships.
On the contrary, he recognizes that Nigeria cannot rely exclusively on government budgets to bridge its enormous infrastructure deficit.
His argument is more fundamental: Private capital may finance public infrastructure, but private participation cannot privatize public accountability.
A PPP should transfer appropriate commercial and operational risks to private investors while ensuring that government retains the capacity—and the responsibility—to protect citizens.
That distinction is crucial.
If a concession succeeds, Nigerians should benefit.
If it encounters difficulties, the public should not be left without information.
And if contractual obligations are breached, there must be consequences.
Ugolor’s 30-Kilometre Challenge
At the center of the activist’s intervention is what he calls the “30-kilometre question.”
If the minister’s allegation that more than 30 kilometres of asphalt was removed is correct, Ugolor wants an independent forensic engineering investigation.
Such an inquiry, he says, should determine:
Why the asphalt was removed.
Who authorized its removal.
The exact quantity removed.
Where the material went.
What engineering specifications informed the decision.
Why were replacement works not completed.
Who certified the work; and whether contractual and regulatory procedures were followed.
This is a particularly powerful demand because it moves the debate beyond political blame and into evidence.
What happened to the road.
Who made the decision.
Who approved it.
Who benefited.
Who is responsible for restoring it.
Those questions, Ugolor maintains, must be answered transparently.
A Challenge to the National Assembly
Ugolor has also applauded the reported involvement of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Works.
But he wants lawmakers to go beyond standing beside potholes and broken pavement for photographs.
He wants them to inspect the contract behind the road.
That means examining the concession agreement, engineering reports, financing arrangements, performance milestones, approvals, safeguards, renegotiation process and obligations of every major party.
He is therefore calling for a joint investigative hearing involving the relevant National Assembly committees and key stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Works, ICRC, Bureau of Public Enterprises, the concessionaire, Africa Plus Partners, AAA Infrastructure, InfraCorp, independent engineers, financiers and the governments of Edo and Delta States.
Such an inquiry, properly conducted, could establish the facts and prevent the crisis from becoming another unresolved chapter in Nigeria’s long history of infrastructure failures.
A Bold 13-Point Accountability Agenda
Ugolor’s demands include immediate emergency works on the worst sections of the highway; publication of the concession agreement and key performance obligations, subject to legitimate commercial redactions; an independent engineering audit; a contract-performance audit; clarification of the different project valuations; beneficial-ownership disclosure; publication of guarantees and termination provisions; disclosure of the renegotiation process; and a prohibition on further removal of functional road infrastructure without proper engineering certification.
He is also demanding a time-bound recovery plan, monthly public reporting and periodic National Assembly oversight until the crisis is resolved.
This is not simply a protest.
It is a governance framework.
Edo and Delta Must Stand Together
Ugolor’s appeal to the Governors of Edo and Delta States—Monday Okpebholo and Sheriff Oborevwori—is equally noteworthy. He wants both states to establish a joint public-interest platform involving government agencies, federal authorities, legislators, transport unions, business groups, civil society organizations, professional engineers, traditional institutions and affected communities.
The objective would be simple: create a credible mechanism through which citizens can monitor the emergency response and communicate directly with the authorities.
The road, he argues, should “unite Edo and Delta, not divide them.”
That message strikes at the heart of the crisis.
Infrastructure that serves the public should not become a political football between levels of government.
From Road Crisis to National Governance Lesson
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of Ugolor’s intervention is that he is looking beyond the Benin–Asaba Road itself.
He is asking Nigeria to learn from the crisis.
Was the financial model realistic?
Were traffic projections accurate?
Were construction costs properly assessed?
Were contractual safeguards adequate?
Did inflation and exchange rate pressures alter the economics?
Were government approvals timely?
Was the concession adequately monitored?
Were performance guarantees strong enough?
These questions are important because Nigeria is increasingly turning to PPPs to address its infrastructure deficit.
If the model is to succeed, government must learn from both its successes and failures.
Ugolor’s Activism Puts the Citizen at the Centre
Rev. David Ugolor’s intervention is therefore more than an expression of anger over a bad road. It is a proactive act of public-interest activism—one that seeks to transform public frustration into institutional accountability.
That is the strength of the intervention.
Rather than merely condemning the deplorable condition of the road, Ugolor is demanding documents, audits, engineering evidence, ownership disclosure, parliamentary scrutiny, emergency action and measurable timelines.
In doing so, he has shifted the conversation from “Who is to blame?” to a more consequential question:
“What must be done to ensure that Nigerians never again bear the consequences of an opaque infrastructure arrangement?”
That is precisely the kind of question civil society should ask.
Umahi Has a Historic Opportunity.
The Works Minister’s decision to confront the crisis personally offers an opportunity to restore public confidence.
His reported allegation about the removal of more than 30 kilometres of asphalt has already raised serious questions.
But the minister now has an opportunity to turn those questions into answers.
A successful intervention should produce more than temporary traffic relief.
It should produce emergency repairs, contractual transparency, independent engineering verification, a credible recovery timetable and continuous public accountability.
That would transform the Benin–Asaba Road from another symbol of Nigeria’s infrastructure crisis into a case study in how government, private capital, civil society and citizens can work together to protect the common good.
The central issue is therefore no longer simply whether the road will be repaired.
It is whether Nigeria can build a system in which public infrastructure is protected by public accountability.
For Ugolor and The Common Good Initiative, the answer must be yes.
Because at the end of every concession agreement, every engineering report, every financing structure and every government pronouncement are ordinary Nigerians:
The truck driver.
The farmer.
The trader.
The student.
The patient.
The commuter.
The family.
They are the real shareholders in the common good.
And on the Benin–Asaba Road, they deserve not another promise—but a road that works, a process that is transparent and a government that answers to the people.
The people must win!
Nowinta Igbotako, a serial author, social critic, international conflict resolution expert, Editor @Large Alltimepost.com newspaper (based in Boston Massachusetts, USA), is Executive – Director, Nigeria Good Governance Research Centre (NGGRC).
Discover more from Alltimepost.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
