Benin-Asaba road to be redesigned as a 136-km dual carriageway and 400 km of the East-West Road rebuilt

16 October 2026

Nigeria's Minister of Works, David Umahi, said President Bola Tinubu has ordered a comprehensive redesign of the 136-kilometre Benin-Asaba road as a dual carriageway, with design work already under way before construction begins. Umahi spoke in Asaba at the reopening of the First Niger Bridge, and a statement was issued in Abuja on 16 October 2026 by his Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze. He said the concession arrangement that had kept the Ministry of Works from reconstructing the road had been discontinued and the project was now back with the ministry. The President has also ordered the reconstruction of about 400 kilometres of the East-West Road as a spur of the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, with design work on some sections nearing completion; the minister said the East-West Road lies entirely in the Niger Delta. The statement also put the cost of Section 2B of the Second Niger Bridge bypass, a stretch of 17.5 kilometres, at N172 billion.