President Tinubu Requests Senate Approval for New $516 Million Loan

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sought the Senate’s approval for a $516.3 million loan to fund part of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway project.

We reports that the request was conveyed in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during Thursday’s plenary.

The President said the project is a 1,000-kilometre flagship highway designed to link Nigeria’s North-West to the South-West.

According to the proposal, the highway will run from Illela in Sokoto State through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, and Ogun, terminating in Badagry, Lagos State.

The loan will specifically fund Sections 1, Phase 1a and 1b, covering 120 kilometres of the total corridor.

Tinubu explained that the funding arrangement involves a syndicated loan from Deutsche Bank AG, backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit.

He added that the Federal Government would provide counterpart funding of over ₦265.5 billion for land acquisition, compensation, and related infrastructure.

The proposed loan has a tenure of nine years, including a grace period of up to three years, with an interest rate pegged at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 per cent annually.

The President noted that the Federal Executive Council had already approved the arrangement and requested its inclusion in the national borrowing plan.

Tinubu said the project would enhance connectivity, improve safety, and reduce logistics costs.

He added that it would boost trade, food security, and national cohesion by linking production zones to markets and ports, while also providing for future rail and utility corridors.

Akpabio referred the request to the Senate Committee on Foreign and Local Debts, directing it to report back within one week.

Speaking on the development, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero described the project as long overdue.

He said, “This project has been on the ground for the last 55 years. I have inspected the project, and I have seen the progress made. I am highly impressed.”

Aliero noted that construction includes both concrete and asphalt roads with solar streetlights.

He added that travel time from Sokoto to Lagos could drop significantly upon completion.

“It will reduce a 13-hour journey to approximately six hours,” he said.