President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has formally requested Senate approval for a loan facility totaling $516,333,007 from Deutsche Bank AG to finance the construction of Sections 1, Phase 1a, and 1b of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
In a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during Thursday’s plenary session, the President described the 1,000-kilometer flagship project as a strategic corridor designed to link Nigeria’s Northwest to the Southwest. The highway will run from Illela in Sokoto State, passing through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, and Ogun, and terminate in Badagry, Lagos State.
According to the letter, the loan will specifically cover 120 kilometers of the total route. The financing arrangement is structured as a syndicated loan secured through Deutsche Bank, backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the insurance arm of the Islamic Development Bank.
President Tinubu noted that the Federal Government will provide counterpart funding of ₦265,542,689,569 to cover land acquisition, compensation, and ancillary infrastructure. The loan carries a nine-year tenor, including a three-year grace period, with an interest rate not exceeding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum.
The President confirmed that the Federal Executive Council has already approved the financing arrangement and urged the Senate to incorporate the loan into the national borrowing plan. The letter emphasized that the superhighway will improve north-south connectivity, enhance road safety, reduce logistics costs, strengthen trade and food security, and support national cohesion by linking production zones to markets and ports. The central median is also being reserved for future rail integration and utility corridors.
Senate President Akpabio referred the request to the Committee on Foreign and Local Debts, which is expected to report back within one week.
Speaking in support of the project, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) described it as a long-overdue initiative, noting that it has been in development for 55 years. “I have inspected the project and I have seen the progress made. I am highly impressed,” Aliero said.
He confirmed that ongoing work includes both concrete and asphalt roads fitted with solar streetlights, and estimated that travel time from Sokoto to Lagos would drop by more than 70 percent — from 13 hours to approximately six hours — upon completion. He urged the Senate to grant expeditious approval once the committee submits its report.