FG rehabilitates N137bn tran-sahara roads in Borno

President Bola Tinubu has flagged-off a N137 billion Rehabilitation work on the Bama–Banki Road and the Dikwa–Gamboru–Ngala Road in Borno.

The project area lies in the Northeastern part of Nigeria, in Borno, and borders the neighbouring Republic of Cameroon.

The existing road is a single carriage of two lanes 49.15km in total length and begins at Bama town at the Cameron border.

Minister of Works, David Umahi, said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would complete the project.

Umahi said the road, aimed at securing and reconnecting the trade-heavy North-East corridor, would bolster agriculture and post-insurgency recovery in the wide North-east region.

“He (President) is a great thinker and a person who is poised to do the unthinkable. Under his watch, these projects will be actualized,” Umahi said.

Umahi revealed that the projects, first awarded in 2021 at over N55 billion, now stand at over N70 billion and N67 billion respectively, for the phase 1 of the Bama-Banki and Dikwa-Gamboru roads.

Flagging-off the project on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Vice-President Kashim Shettima said the roads would restore mobility and revive economic activities in the region.

He also said that roads would widen the reach of security agencies, reconnect communities that have endured years of insecurity and infrastructural neglect.

“Roads are the live wire of our commercial engagements. They determine whether the farmer reaches the market, the trader reaches the customer, the child reaches school, the patient reaches care, and security agencies reach communities in time,” he said.

Shettima noted that President Tinubu had made infrastructure a central priority because poor road networks impose heavy costs on households, businesses and communities.

He noted that bad roads slow commerce, raise the cost of food, isolate communities, discourage investment and weaken the productive capacity of local economies.

He also observed that in a region still recovering from the impact of insurgency, road rehabilitation must be treated as both an economic and security intervention.

Shettima said damaged routes make movement difficult for citizens and also limit the ability of security personnel to patrol, protect and respond swiftly to emergencies.

“Bad roads are also a security risk. A corridor that is difficult for citizens to travel is equally difficult for security personnel to patrol and protect,” he stated.

He described the Bama-Banki corridor as a route of “special strategic weight,” adding that the Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala road forms part of the same vision to reconnect communities.

Earlier, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the President of Dangote Group and the contractors handling the projects, said his group had 12 major roads covering over 1,000km in the six geo-political zones.

Dangote said that the projects put together cost the Federal Government about N3 trillion under the Federal Government Roads Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme.

He stated that the Bama-Bank Road, and Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala Road would open up Nigeria’s economy, facilitate military operations, thereby improving security and attract investors.

In his remarks, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno, also said the interventions were very vital for the state’s recovery efforts, adding that the Roads would expand economic activities to Chad, Cameroon, and the Niger Republic

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