BREAKING: From Gridlock to Grand Vision: Umahi Shares Nigeria’s Road Renewal Plan Amid Lagos Bridge Revamp
The polished marble floors of the presidential suite at this particular Lagos hotel shimmered under the soft glow of golden light bulbs, casting reflections on the richly paneled walls as the cameras rolled. Sitting comfortably against the backdrop of an abstract painting on a square canvas, Senator David Umahi appeared radiant with a warm, almost triumphant smile resting on his face as he leaned back in comfort to speak. Clad in a crisp white kaftan, his posture was relaxed but purposeful, exuding the kind of quiet confidence that comes from knowing one is steering a nation toward something enduring.
In an exclusive interview with ARISE News on this Sunday morning, Umahi addressed what had been, for many Lagosians, a week of chaos and frustration. The sudden closure of the Independence Bridge — one of the city’s most vital arteries — had plunged the metropolis into a sea of honking horns, fumes, and gridlocked despair. From the mainland to the island, traffic backed up for hours, stretching like an endless, unmoving python through the city’s veins. Commuters leaned wearily on their car horns, street hawkers weaved through stagnant lanes selling cold drinks to stranded workers, and tempers flared in the heat as office-bound professionals watched precious hours tick away.
“It was necessary,” Umahi explained, his voice steady and his eyes unwavering. The bridge, he revealed, had shown signs of structural strain that could no longer be ignored. Safety, he said, had to come before convenience. But his tone quickly shifted from explanation to celebration as he outlined the swift, precise works carried out by engineers to reopen the bridge in record time. Reinforcements had been made. Stability assured. And, by the weekend, the bridge had once again begun to hum with the rhythm of life — wheels turning, engines revving, and the daily pulse of Lagos restored.
Yet the minister wasn’t there just to talk about a bridge. He was there to unveil a vision — bold, sweeping, and unmistakably national in scale.
“This administration is not building for Lagos alone,” he said, gesturing animatedly as he spoke of roads that reach far beyond the city’s borders. His voice lifted as he described President Tinubu’s four legacy infrastructure projects — a network designed to link all six geopolitical zones in an intricate web of progress. At the centre of this vision lies the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, a monumental project set to flag-off its Cross River end on April 14, followed by similar ceremonies in Akwa Ibom the next day and to Ebonyi the following day, albeit in the case of the latter, a different road project linking Calabar to Abuja.
From the tranquil mangroves of the South-South to the undulating hills of the Middle Belt, the legacy projects will snake its way through Nigeria’s diverse terrain — not just connecting cities but binding cultures, economies, and people.
At the Lagos end, Umahi described an ambitious engineering feat: a tunnel through the lagoon, burrowing from Ahmadu Bello Way toward Snake Island and onward to Badagry, where the Sokoto-Badagry corridor completes the loop. It’s an audacious vision — one that seeks not only to connect but to unify.
Further north, another triumph is underway. The reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano highway has entered a new chapter, following the termination of the contract with Julius Berger Nigeria Plc due to unresolved variation claims. Now redesigned using reinforced concrete — a choice Umahi passionately defends for its durability — the expanded project spans 750km and includes an 11km extension to the Aminu Kano International Airport. Solar-powered streetlights will line the expressway from Abuja to Kano, lighting the path of progress with both practicality and innovation.
The transformation doesn’t stop there. Umahi spoke proudly of work on the East-West Road, particularly the Onne axis in Rivers State — a 30km stretch now reimagined in concrete to bear the burden of the country’s busiest transport corridor. Progress, he noted with pride, was rapid. By the end of April, one carriageway would be open for traffic, bringing relief to both motorists and the businesses that rely on that route daily.
Throughout the interview, Umahi’s enthusiasm was infectious. His words painted pictures of cranes and concrete mixers, of hard hats gleaming under the sun, of Nigeria on the move — not in bursts of short-lived projects, but in long-term, legacy-defining efforts.
But on this particular day, he wasn’t just giving a progress report and revealing plans to ARISE News Anchors on live TV, he also later proceeded to a stakeholders’ meeting, the latest of many he has convened to share the President’s vision for the route and of course, share a hands-on progress report, complete with projectors and all.
By the time the cameras stopped rolling, the sun had dipped low over the Atlantic, casting a warm orange hue over the skyline. Outside, Lagos was beginning to exhale — the bridge reopened, the roads in motion, and the promise of more to come. In that quiet moment, back in hos elegant suite, David Umahi had done more than deliver an update. He had told a story of rebirth — not just of bridges or highways, but of the idea that infrastructure could be the foundation of a truly united nation.
Watch full interview below…
