The Federal Government has commenced a comprehensive review of inherited road concession agreements signed in 2023 under the Highway Development and Management Initiative, two years after the initial contracts were executed.
This development, according to the Ministry of Works, is aimed at ensuring transparency, accountability, and value-for-money in the implementation of Public-Private Partnership road projects nationwide.
The roads include the 125 km Benin-Asaba road (Route 1), 195km Abuja- Lokoja road (Route 2), 161.2km Onitsha-Owerri-Aba (Route 3), 258km Shagamu – Benin road (Route 4), 100km Kano-Shuari road (Route 5), 200km road Enugu – Port Harcourt (Route 6) which also has a 25-year concession term. The seventh route is the 80km Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta road, and the 79km Lagos-Badagry-Seme Border (Route 8).
In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Works, Orji Uchenna, the review follows a two-day stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, which ended on July 22, 2025, in Abuja.
Orji noted that the minister identified critical flaws and ambiguities in the original concession agreements and proposed addenda signed on May 23, 2023, and insisted that the documents must be updated to reflect current realities and policy reforms under the Tinubu-led administration.
“In the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to strengthen the concession policy for concessionaires and to enhance funding and private sector participation in the road infrastructure development under the Highway Development Management Initiative, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, has concluded a meeting with stakeholders and concessionaires with the aim of having a more realistic, transparent and productive approach to financing in the construction and maintenance of road projects under Public-Private Partnerships,” the statement read in part.
The minister, during the sessions, raised concerns over issues such as the Put-Call Option Agreement, the scope of additional facilities, performance security guarantees, encumbrances on project sites, and revision of tolling structures.
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