Lagos-ibadan Expressway: Fg Blames Rain for Delay in Completion

Ademola Kuti, the director of Federal Highways South-West at the Ministry of Works and Housing, has attributed the delay in completing the reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to heavy rainfall and gridlock.

Politics Nigeria gathered that Kuti made the comments during an appearance on Channels Television’s News At Ten program on Sunday, April 30, 2023.

The road project had initially set a deadline of December 2022, which it failed to meet, leading to a new completion date of April 30, as announced by the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

Kuti stated, “The earlier completion date of April 30, we were unable to meet that target because of some factors, majorly the heavy rain which we experienced since March and April and of course the unexpected heavy traffic.”
He, however, assured motorists that the Federal Government remained committed to completing the project. Nonetheless, he was unable to provide a specific date for the project’s completion since he could not predict the weather.

“So, as we move into the next month (May), we expect that the rain will still be heavy and it will be a bit difficult, but what we want to assure motorists is that we are determined to complete this project, we are fully on the ground.

“As a matter of fact, we opened access in the OPIC axis, that is from the Kara Bridge to the Long Bridge and what is left is just about a kilometre as you enter Lagos and then maybe another two kilometres as you are leaving Lagos and we are fully determined with enough men on the ground to achieve this,” Kuti stated.