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Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima has commissioned FCT Highway 105, the airport expressway to Kuje Township Junction, declaring the project a symbol of the Tinubu administration’s commitment to delivering on its promises to Nigerians.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony in Abuja, Shettima struck a defiant tone against the culture of abandoned infrastructure that has long plagued Nigeria’s public works sector.
“Today, we are not just commissioning a road; we are keeping a promise,” he said. “Three years ago, we took an oath to serve you. We pledged to end the era of abandoned projects, today, FCT Highway 105 stands as proof that we keep our word.”
The six-lane dual carriageway had been awarded in 2022 but stalled with little visible progress, becoming, in the Vice President’s own words, “a symbol of frustration, greed, dust in the dry season, and mud in the rains.”
Shettima was direct in acknowledging the project’s troubled history while framing its completion as evidence of a new governing philosophy.
“The present administration does not inherit problems to abandon them,” he said. “We inherit challenges to solve them.”
Shettima, who represented President Bola Tinubu at the event, used the occasion to defend the appointment of FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, citing results as justification.
“When I appointed the Honourable Minister of the FCT, did so because he delivers,” he said. “While there were delays, we brought political will. While there were obstructions, we respected the law.”
Beyond the infrastructure milestone, the Vice President framed the commissioning within the broader philosophy of the Renewed Hope Agenda, pushing back against a development model that concentrates investment in Nigeria’s city centres while satellite towns are left behind.
“The Renewed Hope Agenda is not just for the city centre. True democracy must be felt at the grassroots. It must be felt in Kuje,” he said. “Every Nigerian must feel it.”
The Vice President also signalled that Abuja’s development blueprint must extend beyond its established corridors.
“Abuja cannot grow if only the city centre thrives,” he said, pointing to the opening up of satellite towns as a strategic priority for sustainable urban expansion.
