President Bola Tinubu on Thursday asked the Senate to approve a $516,333,070 loan from Deutsche Bank to finance Sections 1, 1A, and 1B of the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway project.
In a letter read by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio during plenary, Tinubu said the loan is a syndicated financing facility under the borrowing plan already approved by the National Assembly.
He explained that the facility will fund 120 kilometers of the planned 1,000‑kilometer superhighway.
The project is designed to open Nigeria’s North West–South West economic corridor with a high‑capacity carriageway linking Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, stretching from Illela to Badagry.
According to the President, the Federal Government will provide counterpart funding of ₦265,542,689,569 to cover land acquisition, compensation, and ancillary infrastructure for the project.
He noted that the loan has a nine‑year tenure, including a grace period of up to three years, at an interest rate not exceeding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum.
Commenting on the request, Senator Adamu Aliero (APC, Kebbi Central) urged the Senate to grant expeditious approval.
“The project is a milestone and now a reality because I have personally inspected the road from the Kebbi axis and was amazed by what I saw in terms of quality of work, stretching about 250 kilometers,” Aliero said.
He added that on completion, the highway will cut travel time from Sokoto to Lagos from 13 hours to just six hours, a reduction of about 70 percent.
Senate President Akpabio described the request as a welcome development in line with the earlier approved borrowing plan.
“The loan is being requested to fund the project, which is a game changer economically,” he said.
Akpabio stressed that borrowing is necessary for infrastructure development, particularly for a country like Nigeria.
He referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt for expeditious consideration and directed it to report back within a week.
