Federal Government Weighs ‘Law of Necessity’ to Terminate Benin-Asaba Road Concession
The Federal Government is exploring legal options, including the possible invocation of the “law of necessity” on grounds of overriding public interest, to bring an end to the concession agreement inherited from the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari for the reconstruction of the Benin-Asaba Road.
Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, disclosed the government’s position while speaking during an inspection of Phase 2B of the Second Niger Bridge, along the Nkwerre-Ezunaka section of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway, over the weekend. According to Umahi, the government has grown increasingly concerned over the prolonged deterioration of the strategic highway and the hardship it continues to inflict on motorists and other road users. He stressed that although the Bola Tinubu administration inherited the concession arrangement from the previous government, it would not allow the agreement to become a justification for continued neglect of the road. “Our hands are tied by the concession agreement that was entered before this administration. But overriding public interest is such that we are watching them, and if this suffering continues, we’ll invoke the law of necessity for overriding public interest,” Umahi said.
The Benin-Asaba road, a 125-kilometre dual carriageway running through Edo and Delta states, was one of 12 major federal highways selected for concession under the pilot phase of the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), introduced during Babatunde Fashola’s tenure as Minister of Works and Housing under the Buhari administration. The road is currently being handled by the Benin Asaba Expressway Concession Company (BAECC), operating under a 25-year Value-Added Concession arrangement designed to attract private-sector investment into the corridor’s development and management. Under the original plan, the highway was to be expanded to ten lanes, running from Oba Ovonramwen Square, popularly known as Ring Road, in Benin City through to the Onitsha Head Bridge in Delta State.
The minister’s latest comments follow weeks of mounting pressure over the state of the road, which has left commuters facing persistent gridlock and worsening travel conditions some 16 months after reconstruction work began. At an earlier stakeholders’ meeting held at the Government House in Benin City, Umahi had appealed directly to the concessionaire to voluntarily write to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Works to formally enable contract termination, arguing that the company had failed to add sufficient value to the project. He directed BAECC to urgently clear all obstructions along the road to restore free traffic flow, ordered that damaged sections be reconstructed under the supervision of the Independent Engineer, and instructed the concessionaire to replace all asphalt it had removed, redirect water being channelled onto the carriageway, and submit a proper technical design for stormwater management.
Responding at the same meeting, the Head of Legal and Compliance for BAECC, Peterson Fabian, described the Federal Government’s proposed approach as friendly and collaborative, and appealed for additional time to allow further consultation and discussion before any final decision on the way forward. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, Allwell Onyesoh, described the situation facing commuters and other road users on the corridor as terrible, calling the episode a cautionary lesson about the limited capacity of some concessionaires handling major infrastructure projects in Nigeria.
The Ministry of Works has separately acknowledged the legal complexity surrounding any potential termination, noting that the concession arrangement limits the government’s ability to arbitrarily end the agreement and hand the road to another contractor without carefully weighing the legal and financial consequences involved. According to the ministry, government remains bound by law and by contract, and must observe due process, warning that an arbitrary termination could expose the Federal Government to litigation and substantial financial claims from the concessionaire. The ministry has also pointed to the broader context behind the road’s condition, noting that the Tinubu administration inherited a significant infrastructure deficit spanning roughly 2,064 federal road and bridge projects at various stages of completion, following years of deterioration and inadequate investment under previous administrations.
As the standoff between the Federal Government and BAECC continues, road users along the Benin-Asaba corridor remain in limbo, with the ultimate resolution of the concession dispute still pending further engagement between the two parties.
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