FG okays N1.5trn for construction, rehabilitation of over 700km roads

The federal executive council has approved the sum of N1.535 trillion for the construction and rehabilitation of eleven roads across the country.

The construction would be enabled under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited tax credit scheme.

Speaking on Wednesday after the council meeting, the minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, said over N1.5 trillion would be spent on some major roads in Nigeria, totalling over 700 kilometres linking 11 states.

The states include Edo, Delta, Kano, Kaduna, Borno and Adamawa among others.

“The council gave approval for the construction and rehabilitation of 11 roads totalling 737.242 kilometres in the sum of N1, 535, 154, 247, 234.48 under phase II of the NNPC tax credit scheme.

“Recall that in January this year, the council approved a memo for the NNPC to invest N1.9 trillion on our roads. That amount was then about 44 roads that had been awarded and the balance of those roads that had to go through procurement between then and now are the 11 that have now been approved by the council,” Fashola said.

The Minister said in November 2022 that NNPC Limited has released N196 billion for roads under the tax credit scheme out of the N662 billion approved by the FEC.

He added that the ministry needed N1.2 trillion for the execution of highway projects, but only N198.9 billion has been allocated under the budget envelope in 2023 for the roads.