The Senate on Tuesday commended President Bola Tinubu for approving the dualisation of the long-abandoned Akwanga (Nasarawa)–Jos (Plateau)–Bauchi–Gombe highway, nearly four decades after the project was first conceived.
The commendation followed a Point of Order raised during plenary by Senator Abdul Ningi (PDP, Bauchi), who noted that the project would address years of neglect suffered by communities along the corridor.
recalled that the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, had announced last week that the Federal Government had awarded the contract for the road’s dualisation.
Moving the motion, Ningi said the highway, which cuts across several North-Central and North-East states, had remained the only major federal corridor in the country without a dual carriageway.
“Mr President, as representatives of the people and on behalf of senators from Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Nasarawa and Adamawa, we emphatically thank the President/Commander-in-Chief for providing this road. This is a road we have waited for almost four decades,” Ningi said.
He urged the Senate Committees on Works and Finance to closely monitor the project and ensure adequate funding for its completion.
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Also contributing, Senator Danjuma Goje (APC, Gombe) praised the President for responding to the long-standing demands of residents in the region. “We have to praise the president.
We want to thank him for listening to the plight and complaints of our people. I hope after this one, it will proceed from Gombe to Maiduguri,” he said.
The Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe highway serves as a major link between the North-Central and North-East regions and has long been associated with frequent accidents, economic losses, and security challenges due to its poor state.