Tinubu seeks national assembly’s approval to borrow $516m for Sokoto-Badagry superhighway

President Bola Tinubu has asked the national assembly to approve a $516,333,007 foreign loan to support the construction of sections of the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway project.

The request is contained in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and read during Thursday’s plenary.

According to the president, the loan — to be sourced from a syndicated financing facility by Deutsche Bank — will fund sections 1, 1A and 1B of the project, covering about 120 kilometres.

Tinubu also requested that the loan be included in the federal government’s borrowing plan, which the national assembly has already approved.

Tinubu said the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, a flagship infrastructure initiative under the renewed hope agenda, is designed to open up Nigeria’s north-west and south-west economic corridor through the construction of an approximately 1,000-kilometre high-capacity carriageway, linking Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, stretching from Illela to Badagry.

“The proposed financing arrangement comprises a syndicated loan to be secured through Deutsche Bank AG, supported by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the insurance arm of the Islamic Development Bank,” the letter reads.

Tinubu said the federal government will provide counterpart funding in the sum of N265,542,689,569, covering land acquisition, compensation, and ancillary infrastructure.

The president said the loan has a nine-year tenure, including a grace period of up to three years, with an interest rate not exceeding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum.

Tinubu said the road project would improve network performance along the corridor, reduce logistics costs and travel time, facilitate trade and strengthen food security, promote national integration by linking production zones to markets and ports, and provide long-term intermodal flexibility through provision for future rail integration and utility corridors.

Tinubu asked the senate to consider and approve the loan request expeditiously.

Akpabio subsequently referred the request to the senate committee on local and foreign debts for further legislative action.