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Kingsley Joshua
The Senate on Wednesday issued a stark warning over the crumbling Bauchi-Ningi Federal Highway, branding the road a “death trap” and demanding immediate government intervention on a route lawmakers said is endangering lives, stifling trade and deepening hardship across the country’s north.
The warning came during plenary as Sen. Abdul Ningi described a once-strategic federal artery now reduced to a punishing stretch of failed pavement, deep potholes and eroded sections — a road so battered, he said, that a journey of about 100 kilometers that should take roughly an hour now drags on for nearly four.
For thousands of commuters, traders and transporters who depend on the highway to move between the North-East and North-West, the consequences have become both economic and deadly. Senate lawmakers said the road’s collapse has fueled rising transport costs, wasted productive hours and exposed stranded motorists to crashes, armed robbery and other security threats.
Ningi told the chamber that the highway, constructed in the late 1980s, has been left to deteriorate for decades without major rehabilitation. Age, neglect, mounting traffic and the absence of sustained maintenance, he said, have combined to push the road to the brink of failure.
What was once a vital connector for regional movement and commerce has become a symbol of decaying public infrastructure, with lawmakers warning that continued inaction threatens interstate trade, agricultural supply chains and broader economic integration in one of the country’s most commercially important corridors.
The Senate responded by calling on the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency to begin emergency palliative repairs on the worst sections of the highway without delay, pending full rehabilitation.
Lawmakers also urged the Federal Ministry of Works to commence immediate reconstruction of the Bauchi-Ningi road, describing the situation as a matter of urgent national importance.
In a further step, the Senate directed its Committee on Works to carry out an on-the-spot assessment, consult relevant stakeholders and return within four weeks with recommendations for possible legislative action.
Without swift repairs, lawmakers warned, the highway will continue to exact a heavy toll — endangering lives and property, worsening economic strain and tightening the grip of hardship on communities and businesses that rely on the corridor.
