Growing up in Jos, I came to appreciate the importance of roads long before I understood the language of economics or national development.
Whenever my family travelled to the eastern part of the country, our journey often took us through Akwanga and Makurdi before reaching our destination. Years later, life took me to Gombe, and once again, the road from Jos through Bauchi became a familiar route. Like millions of Nigerians, I have travelled these highways many times. I have admired the beauty of the landscape, met hardworking people in the towns along the way, endured difficult portions of the road and experienced the delays that turned what should have been a short journey into a long one.
Those journeys taught me one simple lesson: roads are much more than concrete. They connect people to opportunities. They move food from farms to markets, children to schools, workers to their jobs and families to one another. When roads work, economies grow. When they fail, everyone pays the price.
That is why the Federal Government’s decision under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to construct the 700-kilometre Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe–Biu–Maiduguri Superhighway deserves national attention.
Designated as Nigeria’s Fourth Legacy Project, this six-lane concrete highway is expected to link the North Central and the North East, creating a strategic transport corridor that can reshape commerce, agriculture and regional integration.
If delivered according to plan, this project could become one of the most significant infrastructure investments in Northern Nigeria.
For decades, poor road infrastructure has increased the cost of doing business. Farmers have watched produce spoil before reaching markets. Transporters have spent more on fuel and vehicle repairs. Businesses have struggled with rising logistics costs, while consumers have paid higher prices for food and other essential goods.
A modern highway can help change that.
It can reduce travel time, lower transportation costs, encourage investment and improve the movement of agricultural produce across the country. States such as Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe and Borno possess enormous agricultural potential. Connecting these production centres through an efficient road network will strengthen food supply chains and support Nigeria’s drive towards greater food security.
The corridor can also stimulate new economic activities. Filling stations, hotels, restaurants, warehouses, logistics centres, agro-processing industries and other businesses are likely to emerge along the route, creating employment opportunities for thousands of Nigerians.
But as promising as this project is, there is one challenge that must not be overlooked.
Security.
Parts of the Akwanga–Jos–Bauchi–Gombe corridor have experienced highway kidnappings, banditry, violent herder-farmer clashes and other criminal activities over the years. A world-class highway cannot deliver world-class economic benefits if motorists and investors are afraid to use it.
Security must therefore become part of the project itself.
The Federal Government should establish permanent security formations at strategic intervals along the corridor, supported by rapid-response patrol teams, surveillance cameras, drone technology and modern communication systems. Emergency response centres equipped with ambulances, recovery vehicles and trained personnel should also be positioned along the highway to improve safety for motorists.
Local communities must equally become partners in protecting this investment. Traditional rulers, community leaders and residents often possess valuable local knowledge that can strengthen intelligence gathering and support the efforts of security agencies.
Protecting this corridor will also require cooperation among governments.
The Northern States Governors’ Forum, under the chairmanship of Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has taken an important step through the establishment of the Northern Security Trust Fund. The initiative is expected to strengthen intelligence sharing, improve security infrastructure and support coordinated operations across Northern Nigeria.
This collaborative approach deserves support because criminals do not recognise state boundaries. A highway connecting several states should equally be protected through coordinated security efforts involving both the Federal Government and the affected states.
Another issue that deserves attention is the planned introduction of toll gates.
Many Nigerians understandably have concerns whenever tolling is mentioned. But toll gates should not simply become revenue collection points. They should guarantee better services.
If motorists are expected to pay tolls, they should enjoy smooth roads, effective security, proper lighting, emergency medical services and prompt maintenance whenever repairs are required. The management of toll revenue must be transparent, with funds clearly reinvested in maintaining and securing the highway. Modern electronic tolling should also be introduced to reduce delays and improve accountability.
There is equally an important responsibility for the state governments along this corridor.
While the Federal Government is constructing the superhighway, the governments of Nasarawa, Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe and Borno must ensure that rural communities are connected to it through quality feeder roads. A farmer should not have difficulty accessing a highway designed to move agricultural produce efficiently across the country.
The states should also take deliberate steps to improve the ease of doing business by developing industrial parks, produce aggregation centres, logistics hubs and commercial zones that will attract private investment. The economic value of this highway will not come simply from vehicles passing through these states. It will come from businesses choosing to invest, create jobs and add value to local economies because the infrastructure makes economic sense.
A superhighway should never become a road that communities merely watch from a distance. It should become a corridor of opportunity where agriculture expands, industries grow, commerce flourishes and young people find meaningful employment.
Every generation has an opportunity to leave behind something that outlives it.
This superhighway has the potential to become one of those defining investments.
Having travelled these roads from my childhood in Jos to my years in Gombe, I know what they have been. Like millions of Nigerians, I now look forward to seeing what they can become.
If this project is completed to the highest standards, secured effectively, maintained transparently and supported by complementary investments from the states it traverses, it will achieve far more than connecting Akwanga to Maiduguri.
It will connect farmers to markets, businesses to opportunities, communities to prosperity and Nigerians to one another.
Because in the end, the true legacy of any road is not measured by the kilometres of concrete that are laid, but by the lives that are transformed because that road exists.
Thank you for reading
I am Chika Udenkwo,
Lead Commentator, Echoes of the People.
Echoes of the People—Giving voice to the issues that matter and inspiring conversations that shape our nation.
