President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday described his administration’s infrastructure programmes as the foundation for “a new Nigeria” that will deliver broader prosperity.
The President stated this while commissioning work on two service carriageways of the Southern Parkway in Abuja delivered under the leadership of Minister Nyesom Wike of the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking at the ceremony—where he was represented by All Progressives Congress National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, President Tinubu said reforms enacted over the past three years are “tough but necessary.”
He said tangible results are already visible in roads, bridges, rail projects and housing.
“The results are here—the roads, the bridges, the rails, and housing. We are laying the foundation for a new Nigeria that works—and works for all and for our common prosperity,” he said, urging citizens to “stay with us, support us, stand by the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
The commissioned project covers the service carriageways of Southern Parkway from Arterial Road S20 (Oladipo Diya Way) to Ring Road II.
President Tinubu said the construction, which complements an earlier inauguration of the main carriageway—‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu Way’ will ease congestion between the city’s southern districts and strengthen links from Phase I to Phase IV of the FCT, in line with the Abuja Master Plan.
“The service carriageways are not a luxury. They are designed to ease access,” he said.
The President noted heavy daily congestion affecting residents of Dutse, Gudu, Gaduwa, Duboyi and parts of Phase II, and predicted that completion would reduce travel times, lower business costs and free up family time.
“That is the dividend of democracy, and that is the renewed hope that you can feel and you can touch every day,” Tinubu said, listing other projects underway in the territory, from the renamed Professor Wole Soyinka Way to interchanges linking Jahi and Gwarinpa.
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike—who was praised by the president as “Mr. Project”—said political campaigning ahead of the 2027 general elections would not derail delivery.
He pledged that the FCT Administration would press ahead with work and vowed the new contract would be completed and inaugurated in January 2027.
“I want this job to be inaugurated before we go for the general elections in 2027,” he said, adding that the administration will meet its financial obligations to contractors.
Minister Wike also issued a sharp warning to land grabbers who have begun unauthorized development along the road corridor, ordering the acting director of Development Control to demolish illegal structures and to coordinate with the Director of Lands to stop encroachment.
Richard Dauda, acting Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) described the Southern Parkway as a principal artery of the city’s southern development corridor.
The road, he said, connects the Inner Southern Expressway in Phase I to the same expressway in Phase IV, forming a key east–west link across the southern sectors of Abuja.
