FCT satellite towns: ‘Era of ‘death trap’ roads over’ – Tinubu declares

By Stanley Onyekwere

​Abuja’s long-standing trend of limiting major infrastructure to affluent city centers has come to an end, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared on Wednesday, promising a new era of development for the Federal Capital Territory’s (FCT) overlooked satellite towns.
​Speaking at the official commissioning of the newly completed 7km Kuje-Gwagwalada dual carriageway, President Tinubu, who was represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, noted that the project marks a definitive victory for rural communities that have long felt abandoned by the federal government.
​For decades, the route linking the Kuje and Gwagwalada Area Councils was notorious for gridlock, vehicle damage, and insecurity.
According to the President, the transformation of this specific corridor will directly alter the daily realities of local traders, students, and farmers.
​“For decades, this road was a death trap,” Tinubu said. “Traders lost time, goods, and sometimes lives… Criminals thrived in the darkness. That story ends today.”
​President Tinubu used the occasion to laud FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, reminding the public of the explicit mandate given to the Minister upon his appointment: make Abuja work for all Nigerians, not just the wealthy elites.
​The President praised Wike for taking the Renewed Hope Agenda straight to the grassroots—stretching infrastructure targets from high-end judicial quarters in Katampe down to the rural markets of Kuje.
​Directly addressing the residents who stand to benefit from the dual carriageway, he issued a stern warning against the sabotage of public utilities.
He urged the community to take full ownership of the project and aggressively protect it from ​vandals targeting the newly installed solar streetlights, ​traders and developers building unauthorized structures on the road’s median.
​Acknowledging the current economic hardships brought on by recent national reforms, Tinubu thanked Nigerians for their resilience, maintaining that the “hard choices” being made today are the only way to guarantee a prosperous, inclusive tomorrow where no community is left behind.
Earlier, in his remarks at the event, FCT Minister, Barr. Nyesom Wike shed light on the origins of the Kuje-Gwagwalada road project, explaining that upon taking office, he personally toured all six FCT Area Councils to interact directly with local stakeholders and hear their needs.
He said during those interactive visits, the traditional ruler of Kuje specifically highlighted the direct link between the area’s severe insecurity and its broken roads, which made it nearly impossible for security agencies to pursue criminals, and pleaded for the completion of the abandoned airport road to the Kuje dual carriageway and later the Kuje-Gwagwalada road.
The Minister said the FCT Administration responded decisively to that request, first completing the road from Garage Junction to the LEA Secretariat, and the Airport road to Kuje highway, and later presenting the Kuje-Gwagwalada road project to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), where President Tinubu promptly approved the contract award to Gilmor Nigeria Limited.
He expressed immense delight that the contractor delivered a high quality road on time, and announced that the second phase of the corridor is already on track to be fully completed by December this year, allowing commuters to travel seamlessly between Gwagwalada and Kuje without being forced onto the busy federal highway.
Earlier, the Minister of State for the FCT, Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, delivered an address expressing profound gratitude to President Tinubu and the Vice President for their unwavering commitment to systemic infrastructural renewal across the FCT and the nation.
Mahmoud described the road project as a clear testament to the renewed hope agenda in action, stressing that the initiative ad connected communities, boosted economic growth and also given wider opportunity to the people of Kuje, Gwagwalada and the entire FCT.