FG grants Ogun state approval to reconstruct, toll Lagos-Abeokuta expressway

The Federal Government has granted approval to the Ogun State Government to fix and toll the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

This was made known by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Monday, October 16, 2023, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

For several years, motorists and commuters have lamented the deplorable state of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway which has remained a death trap despite repeated appeals to the government to fix the road.

Umahi during the chat explained that the project would be carried out under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), adding that the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance would be involved in the process.

The Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway is an 81-kilometre-long expressway connecting Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, and Ikeja, the capital of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city.

The Lagos – Abeokuta expressway is one of Nigeria’s busiest highways, linking people living in metropolitan and greater Lagos, as well as people from outside the state.

This expressway is reported to be the busiest inter-state and intra-city route in Nigeria handles more than 250,000 Passenger Car Units (PCUs) daily and constitutes one of the largest road networks in Africa.

Umahi had earlier in August during a courtesy visit to Governor Dapo Abiodun in Abeokuta, hinted of a joint rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta expressway by the Federal Government and Ogun State government.

The minister, while responding to Governor Abiodun on the frustration experienced by Ogun and Lagos States during the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to get the road done, disclosed that the period of bureaucracy in road construction in the country was over.

He noted that if the Federal Government is looking for corporate organisations to get involved in road construction and management, state governments should not be denied the same opportunity.