Again, Nigerian govt shifts date to deliver Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

The Federal Government has once again, set a deadline for the completion and delivery of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, in an interview programme on Channels Television on Friday night, said the ever busy road would be completed by November.

Umahi who identified funding as a major challenge facing the project, assured Nigerians that President Bola Tinubu had given his approval for funds to be released so that the intervention work on the expressway would be completed within the specified time.

“Let’s give it November. We may have a little bit of challenges on funding but it is something that I intend to discuss with Mr President,” Umahi said while reacting to a question on when the road will be completed.

According to the Minister, the completion of the project will come from the initiative of President Tinubu.

“The funding is coming from the PIDF – Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund – programme. Right now, we have a balance of N18 billion on that axis to pay. The stringent condition is that you cannot take funds that are meant for one project to do the other one,” he said.

Read also: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway will be completed in April, Fashola insists

This is not the first time the Nigerian government has set dates for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan road and other roads across the country.

Most notable was when former Works and Housing Minister,
Babatunde Fashola, gave the assurance that the 13 kilometres of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway will be completed by April 30th.

During an inspection tour of the road to access the space of work on the road, Fashola had said the Lagos-Ibadan expressway would be completed before the transition to the next administration on May 29.

“I want to appeal to commuters on that road for continuous patience and understanding: it is a difficult project to execute because it is perhaps one of the busiest roads in the country.

“So, I want to implore that forbearance continues because the deadline date we have for completion now is April 30.

“In about four weeks, 26 days, plus or minus, that road should also be fully completed, open to traffic from Lagos to Ibadan, and beyond the toll gate up to kilometre 116,” Fashola had assured.

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