Kaduna State is witnessing a quiet but powerful transformation in its road infrastructure—one that does more than connect people and places. Under Governor Uba Sani, road construction is rewriting the political narrative of performance, equity, and quality in governance.
For the first time in over a decade, Kaduna’s rural communities and farming hubs are finally at the centre of a strategic infrastructure vision that prioritizes both food security and inclusivity.
What makes this change even more telling is the historical contrast it draws. For instance, roads built under the late Governor Patrick Yakowa—such as Yakowa Way in Millennium City and the Yan Karfe to Emanto Junction Road in Zaria—still stand strong more than a decade later.
Constructed around 2010, these roads have withstood the test of time, weather, and usage. They are physical testaments to Yakowa’s principled commitment to quality, functionality, and sustainability. In a state where infrastructure is often politicized, Yakowa’s legacy remains quietly unshaken, in contrast to El-Rufai’s.
By comparison, the road projects under Governor Nasir El-Rufai, completed just a few years ago, have failed to demonstrate the same resilience. Roads like Rafin Guza and FRCN Road—once flagged as part of a grand “urban renewal” agenda—have become early casualties of poor durability. Governor Uba Sani is now not only reconstructing these roads but expanding them.
The Rafin Guza project, for example, is being extended to Hayin Naiya, Malalin Gabas, and Kukumake, ultimately linking to the KASU Permanent Site—a move that reflects deeper planning and inclusive connectivity.
It doesn’t stop there. Several other roads built under El-Rufai—Lugard Roundabout to Kawo, College Road in Unguwan Dosa, Rigasa to Railway Station Road, Mando to Rigasa Road, and Sabon Birni Road in Kawo—have all required urgent maintenance under Uba Sani’s administration, despite being only a few years old. These are not isolated failures; they are symptomatic of a governance model that emphasized optics over durability, urban showpieces over rural necessities.
Governor Uba Sani’s approach marks a radical departure. His road transformation is not just about fixing inherited decay—it’s about building a people-first roadmap that reconnects Kaduna’s economy to its agricultural heartbeat.
His government is focusing on roads that matter to the majority: rural roads that open up farmer markets, connect villages to processing centres, and reduce post-harvest losses. This strategy, rooted in economic pragmatism, is already playing a vital role in Kaduna’s growing push for food security.
Under the so-called “Urban Renewal Programme,” the El-Rufai administration focused on road development in just seven LGAs, leaving vast swaths of the state underdeveloped. Even more damning, 76% of these projects were concentrated in just one local government area—Kaduna North—revealing a deeply skewed development pattern that alienated rural dwellers and undermined the potential of the agricultural economy.
Governor Uba Sani has responded with a statewide rural road inclusion policy, distributing development more evenly and rebuilding trust between government and the governed.
This is not mere road construction—it is a philosophical reset. While El-Rufai’s infrastructure legacy is beginning to unravel just two years after he left office, Uba Sani’s roads are being laid with vision, purpose, and rural empowerment at their core.
The rural farmer in Giwa or the market woman in Kauru now has just as much right to smooth roads as the civil servant in Barnawa. That is what inclusive governance looks like.
As one political analyst aptly puts it, “Inclusive governance is not when everyone claps in the city, but when development reaches the quiet corners where voices are seldom heard.”
The contrast is now impossible to ignore: while El-Rufai built for applause, Uba Sani is building for impact. While Yakowa built for posterity, Sani is building for prosperity.
If the roads of a state can tell a story, Kaduna’s roads are today telling one of truth, equity, and overdue correction. Governor Uba Sani’s quiet revolution is not only correcting the wrongs of the past—it is setting the pace for what infrastructure should mean in a democratic society: service to all, not a few.
- Dogara, a public commentator, wrote from Kaduna
