By Favour Nnabugwu

The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS is to begin action plan on the construction of the 1,028kilometers Lagos-Abidjan road after presenting its report at the African Union summit next month

Nigeria’s Minister of Works,  Mike Onolememen who disclosed this at the meeting of Ministers of Road infrastructure, Transport, Finance and Justice from Nigeria Benin, Togo, Ghana and Abidjan in Abuja recently. He explained  that the action plan for the construction of the Lagos enroute Benin, Togo, Ghana to Cote D’Ivoire will be completed within two years of its commencement.

Onolememen encouraged his colleagues to adopt a good, implementable action plan and a concrete report for presentation at the UN meeting in Addis Ababa in May. According to him, the presentation   will lead to the actualization of the dream of the regional leaders which will usher in a new era in trade and commerce in the region.

The Abidjan – Lagos Corridor, according to the Minister, covers a total distance of 1,028km and connects some of the largest and economically most dynamic cities in Africa. The cities include Lagos, Accra, Cotonou, Lome and Abidjan.

“To improve this corridor is the essence of this meeting as directed by the Presidents of the five (5) concerned member states and the report of the meeting would be presented to the African Union Summit coming up in Addis Ababa in May, 2013”.

The construction of the proposed Abidjan – Lagos super Highway will commence sometime next year and will be completed within twenty –four (24) months.

Onolememen said that the meeting was called to prepare, deliberate, and agree on an implementation plan with a clear indication of responsibility for  the realization of the dreams and directive of the Presidents and Heads of States of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire.

The countries, he explained, agreed to work together and  construct the homogenous corridor that stands out as the most significant segments of the Trans – West African Highways Network.

The participation of the Ministers of Transport, Finance, Justice and Foreign Affairs for Nigeria and other participating countries, according to him, gave credence to the broad coverage of regional road transportation, financing and legal procedure expected at this meeting.

He recalled that ECOWAS in 2006 commissioned a study on the Regional Road Transport and Transit Facilitation Programme in West Africa, and in their final report, the consultant identified the Abidjan – Lagos corridor as one of the highest corridors requiring improvement.

Nigeria’s  Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr, Nurudden Muhammad, stated that Nigeria is committed to its full implementation and the realization of the objectives in the Highway project in the interest of the progress, peace and security of the peoples of the region, and urged the other member states to follow suit.