Bauchi Speaker seeks inclusion of Bauchi–Kano Federal Highway repairs in the 2026 National Budget

The Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Dr. Abubakar Y. Suleiman has called on the Federal Government to include the rehabilitation of the Bauchi–Kano Federal Highway in the 2026 national appropriation to ease the suffering of commuters plying the route.

Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman made the appeal in a separate letters addressed to the Senate and the House of Representatives, drawing attention to the deplorable condition of the 138-kilometre Bauchi–Ningi–Jigawa–Kano Federal Highway, which serves as a major arterial road linking several states in the Northeast and North-Central regions to the commercial city of Kano.

He lamented that the road, which carries a high volume of traffic daily, has deteriorated to an alarming state, causing frequent accidents, loss of lives, and destruction of properties worth millions of naira.

The Speaker recalled that repair works commenced in 2023, covering about 10 kilometres from the Bauchi Airport junction to Futuru village, but were suspended in early 2024 following the non-allocation of funds in the 2024 and 2025 federal budgets.

In a separate letter to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Dr. Abubakar Suleiman reiterated earlier discussions held with the agency on the urgent need to fix the road, noting that travel time between Bauchi and Babaldu—which took about an hour, now lasts several hours due to the worsening state of the highway.

He urged the House Committee on Appropriation to allocate substantial funds to FERMA to facilitate the rehabilitation of the road, stressing that such intervention would bring relief to communities along the route, boost economic activities, and reduce road accidents.

PR. RIM/