Proposed Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway expected to connect key economic corridors across northern and southern Nigeria.
President Bola Tinubu has asked the National Assembly to approve a $516 billion financing request for the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway project.
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, read the request during plenary on Thursday.
In his letter, Tinubu said he based the request on Sections 16 and 21 of the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act 2011. He asked lawmakers to approve a syndicated financing facility arranged through Deutsche Bank and to include it in the Federal Government’s borrowing plan.
Tinubu described the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway as a flagship project under his Renewed Hope Agenda. He said the government designed the project to open up the northwest–southwest economic corridor through the construction of a 1,000-kilometre high-capacity road linking Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, from Illela to Badagry.
He said the project will improve connectivity between the north and south, enhance road safety, reduce travel time and logistics costs, and support trade and food security.
Tinubu noted that the highway will link production centres to markets and ports, strengthen national integration, and allow for future rail integration and utility corridors.
He explained that the financing structure includes a syndicated loan from Deutsche Bank, backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, an arm of the Islamic Development Bank.
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The Federal Government will provide counterpart funding of ₦265.5 billion to cover land acquisition, compensation, and related infrastructure.
Tinubu said the loan will run for nine years, including a grace period of up to three years, with an interest rate capped at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum.
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