The House of Representatives has approved President Bola Tinubu’s request for a $516.3 million external loan to fund the construction of sections of the Sokoto‑Badagry superhighway. The approval was announced after the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management presented its report during a plenary session on Tuesday, with Speaker Abbas Tajudeen reading the president’s letter to the chamber.
The loan will finance a 1,000‑kilometre corridor that will link Illela in Sokoto State with Badagry in Lagos, passing through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo and Ogun states. The project is intended to improve connectivity between the north‑west and south‑west regions and create a major economic corridor across the country.
The financing arrangement includes a partial guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC). The loan carries a nine‑year tenor, up to three years of moratorium, and an interest rate benchmarked at CME SOFR + 5.35 per cent per annum. The facility is already part of the federal government’s borrowing plan that was previously approved by the National Assembly.
Deputy Chairman of the committee, Abdullahi El‑Rasheed (APC, Gombe), urged lawmakers to endorse the funding for a 120‑kilometre stretch of the highway. After deliberation, the House adopted all five recommendations from the committee, including the loan request and its inclusion in the rolling borrowing plan. The recommendations were examined clause‑by‑clause in the Committee of Supply before receiving final approval in plenary.
To ensure accountability, the House mandated quarterly reports from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Office and the Federal Ministry of Works on disbursement and project execution. All financing agreements must be submitted to the National Assembly within 30 days of financial close. Additional measures include competitive procurement, independent audits and periodic evaluation of project milestones.
The approval follows the National Assembly’s recent clearance of a separate $6 billion external borrowing programme. That package comprises a $5 billion loan from First Abu Dhabi Bank to support the national budget and a $1 billion export‑finance facility arranged by Citibank for the rehabilitation of Tin Can Island Port and the Lagos Port Complex.
The new loan request arrives amid heightened scrutiny of Nigeria’s debt profile. The Debt Management Office reported that public debt surpassed N87 trillion (approximately $113 billion) by mid‑2023, a level driven by the securitisation of Ways and Means advances and continued borrowing. While officials acknowledge the rising debt burden, they argue that concessional foreign loans remain essential for critical infrastructure and to alleviate domestic borrowing pressures.
