It is that time of the year when many Nigerians travel long distances to celebrate with families. For many, travelling during Eid ul Adha or big sallah, apart from its religious significance of sacrifice, serves as a moment to reconnect with families and revel, but for those whose destination traverses the Abuja-Kaduna highway, the trip has become unpalatable as they spend hours on the 198km highway due to traffic gridlock.

Daily Trust gathered that lack of adequate preparation by the authourities, rainfall, impatience and rehabilitation work on the road have served as a bane for a smooth journey. Yearly, the situation leads to snarls that force commuters to spend six to nine hours on a road that should not take more than three hours to traverse.

For Amina Abubakar, she was confident of returning to Kaduna on the same day, after starting her journey around 6:30am on Sunday, May 24, three days to the Sallah celebration, for Abuja.

Unknown to her, the road was already choked. “I wanted to drop a package for my sister and discuss some important issues with her before returning. Which was why I left very early. But the terrible experience I had forced me to pass the night in Abuja.”

“We spent more than three hours at the same spot and it was a sunny day so I was very uncomfortable. The traffic also made me to spend more money as the return trip cost more than 100 percent of what I paid earlier,” she said.

Ahmed, who also left Abuja the same day said all was going well before he got to Jere Local government area in Kaduna State.

“If you travel very well you will know that the Bwari road is always a smooth drive when coming from town. But when we got to the Jere junction, to connect to the highway, it became a problem as contractors were working not too far from there. One of the lanes was blocked, so driving through was difficult due to the volume of cars there.”

“We spent more than three hours from Jere to Rijana, due to the traffic”, He blamed lack of vision for the problem.

“The necessary agencies should have deployed people that will control the road five days before people started travelling to enable them remove all bottlenecks. Also, the railway that is available, it is very difficult to get tickets due to racketeering going on there. Also those overseeing it refused to increase the number of trips. Can you believe that only one train is going to Kaduna from Abuja, despite the traffic and revenue the government would have generated during this period,”he said.

On his part, Haruna Ibrahim, described his experience on the road as terrible. He said the journey which should not have lasted more than three hours ended up taking about six hours.

“I left Abuja around 8am, but got to Kaduna, some minutes past 2pm. The journey was going smoothly until we got to Jere, where we spent over three hours. The gridlock stretched from Jere to Azara community, before Rijana.

“We were told that it started since yesterday, (Sunday).The cause was attributed to an accident along the road, but today we were told it is due to impatience on the part of drivers, who were trying to overtake others.”

He added that there was presence of road safety officials, but it did little to address the gridlock.

Motorcyclists make risk business

On his part, Amos Abel, who was on his way to Kaduna from Lagos yesterday said he got to Jere around 10 am, but the road was congested.

“No vehicle was moving and it turned into an avenue for brisk business for motorcyclists. They charged us N5,000 to take us to Katari, from where we got cars going to Kaduna. The experience was really bad. Imagine coming from Lagos, braving the bad roads and insecurity to reach Jere and be stranded.”

“Many people will sleep on the road and I believe some will celebrate Sallah there. I advice those using the road to take alternative route.”

Monsurat Kabir, who travelled yesterday to Offa in Kwara State, said they followed the dreaded Birnin Gwari route to avoid the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

When our reporter spoke with her, she said there were in Gada in Niger State.

“Alhamdullillah, we passed through Birnin Gwari without any issue. The road is faster but insecurity and bad road are the problem. Though, we saw military personnel that are heavily armed,” she said.

Maryam Ilyas, who was travelling from Abuja, said her driver took the Kachia road.

“We had no option as the Jere route was blocked. We saw cars coming back from Jere due to the blockage. The journey was up to six hours because we left Abuja around 8am and got to Kaduna at 2pm. There were military officers on the road and lots of checkpoints. The atmosphere was peaceful, but that is the risk we need to take to see loved ones,” she said.

Speaking with Daily Trust, a civil engineer, Engr. Olabode Adeshina, said the volume of cars, reconstruction work and weather are the majors reasons for the problem.

“First is the whether, if you look at the festivals, only Eid-Ul Adha falls during the period of rainfall and we know how risky it is to drive when it is raining. If you over-speed, you can easily lose control of your car due to the less traction of tyres with the wet surface and if you drive slowly, there will be pack of cars behind you, leading to traffic jam. Also, the rain makes it worse for potholes which are in high numbers on the road. It turns them into ponds while the road shoulders that are mostly covered in red sand becomes muddy, so it creates a problem for maneuvering or overtaking.

“Secondly, is the construction on the road. This has been going on for more than eight years and it means there will be diversions dotting the road. This creates problems for drivers as they drive on one-way. Nigerian drivers are very impatient and they will be tempted to use the opposite part for cars coming their way. This can lead to accidents. We know the road is rife with heavy trucks also, so imagine driving past a truck on one lane at night on a major road.

“While the delay on its completion can be caused by many factors, the contractor can’t do his work without following systemic rules to ensure safety and quality job. So this involves lots of dynamics.

“Lastly is the volume of cars on the road during this period. People from Abuja will want to travel to the far North while those in the North will want to travel to the South for the celebration. This creates headache for those managing the road. So, it involves adequate planning and coordination among several agencies. It is here, I feel that we lack foresight. Before now, the road safety and the ministry of works should have anticipated these problems and taken steps to address them”, he said.

Commercial drivers hike fares

Nigerians travelling the route are now being made to pay more for transportation as commercial drivers increased fares due to the gridlock.

Daily Trust gathered that the fare for Abuja to Kaduna has been increased from N10,000 to N25,000 or N20,000, while to Kano, has been increased from N15,000 to N30,000.

Usman Rabiu, a commercial driver said the increase was necessary due to the gridlock and the longer alternative route to Kaduna.

“The current reality is that we are limited to one trip due to the situation. If we follow the Abuja-Kaduna road, we will spend close to eight hours on the road. The alternative route is the Bwari-Kachia-Kajuru road and this takes a long time as you will spend five to six hours on the road before reaching Kaduna.

“We are not happy with the situation, but we also need to survive. The price of fuel has increased and using the two roads will consume lots of fuel, so we are all feeling the impact,” he said.

The construction of the road which is currently in its eighth year has continued to face several delays that led to changing the former company contracted to do the work.

The contract which was initially given to Julius Berger Construction Company saw six years of work mostly completed along the Kaduna to Zaria and Kano axis, with little work done along the Abuja to Kaduna axis.

The contract was eventually revoked from Berger, following cost dispute with the company.

Before the revocation, The Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi, had stated that 45km of the 165km had been completed while 120km was being worked on.

While the job was later awarded to Infiouest (Nig.) Limited, the minister said the uncompleted section was broken into two and a deadline of 14 months each was given.

The section 1, which is from Tungan Maje to Jere was to be completed in April 30, 2026, while section 2, from Jere to Kaduna, is expected to be completed in November 2026.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the road last month by the Renewed Hope Ambassadors and the Presidential Media Team, Engr. Chukwuma Kalu, Resident Engineer from the Federal Ministry of Works overseeing the project, said the contractor has so far covered 88 Kilometres of concrete pavement from Zuba in the Federal Capital Territory to Jere Local Government Area of Kaduna State. In comparison, the inbound section from Kaduna to Jere was 21 Kilometres.

In a separate interview before then, he told our reporter that when section is completed and that the equipment will be moved down to Section 2, to accelerate work on the road. To meet its deadline.

“We have done about 25km, but that one started much later than Section 1. That one has been slated for completion in November. Work is ongoing there. We are putting concrete.

“If you have travelled the Abuja-Kaduna road, the place where you see the concrete machine working after Jere is already in the Section 2 aspect. But we are out of the Section 1.

“So that is where we are now in that Section 2. And you also know that by the time we finish this Section 1, all the machines that are in Section 1 will also be moved to the Section 2 to boost the work there and then.”

When asked on what the government is doing to ensure there won’t be on the gridlock on the road, he had said, “Basically, what we always do is that when we notice there is about to be a holiday that would require people to move around, we try as much as possible to remove anything that might cause obstruction from the road.

“This is to allow people to move freely. I mean, this is April. By the end of May, we would have done a considerable amount of job to ensure that people move freely from one place to another. So, I am sure there’s not going to be a problem because last time, when we did last Sallah (Eid Ul Fitr), I’m not sure people encountered any issues.”

However, the reality shows that the ministry was not able to replicate the solutions it offered during the previous Eid.

Efforts to get comments on the current situation from the ministry proved abortive as its Director of Press, Muhammed Ahmed, was not reachable via his phone.

Meanwhile, the FRSC has advised motorists plying the Abuja–Kaduna highway to maintain lane discipline, avoid one-way driving, obey traffic officials, and drive responsibly.

In a statement on X, FRSC said the corridor currently experiences heavy congestion due to increased Eid-el-Kabir traffic and ongoing road construction works.

“The most affected area remains the Nasarawa Azara axis between Katari and Jere towns, where traffic flow has slowed considerably, further worsened by dangerous overtaking and lane indiscipline by some motorists.

“To ease movement, motorists travelling between Kaduna and Abuja are advised to use the alternative route through Kaduna–Kachia–Maraban Kubacha–Jere–Bwari–Dutse Abuja, and vice versa,” the statement added. (Daily Trust)