Bola Tinubu has requested parliamentary approval for a US$516 million foreign loan to finance key sections of a new national highway project aimed at improving transport links across Africa’s largest economy.
According to a letter read during a Senate plenary session on Thursday, the funding would be sourced through a syndicated facility arranged with Deutsche Bank and forms part of the government’s medium-term borrowing programme already approved by lawmakers.
The proposed loan carries a nine-year repayment period, including up to three years of grace, the president said.
The financing is intended for the first phase of a major road project stretching roughly 1,000 kilometres from Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria through Niger and Kwara states to Badagry in Lagos, a key commercial hub on the Atlantic coast.
The highway is designed to improve north–south connectivity, reduce travel times, lower transport and logistics costs, and strengthen internal trade flows in a country where infrastructure gaps have long constrained economic efficiency.
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Bola Tinubu said in his letter that the project would also enhance food distribution networks and support national integration by linking agricultural producing regions in the north with consumption and export centres in the south.
Nigeria has increasingly relied on external borrowing to finance large infrastructure projects amid limited fiscal space and competing spending pressures. Authorities argue that such investments are critical to unlocking long-term economic growth, even as debt sustainability concerns remain a recurring policy debate.
Last year, the country secured a $747 million syndicated loan, also led by Deutsche Bank, to support the first phase of a separate 700-kilometre coastal highway project connecting key southern economic zones.
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The latest request reflects the government’s broader infrastructure agenda, which prioritises road expansion as a means of improving domestic trade, regional integration and access to markets.
Transport analysts note that Nigeria’s road network remains heavily congested and underdeveloped relative to its population size and economic output. Poor road conditions are widely cited as a major driver of high logistics costs, inflationary pressures and inefficiencies in agricultural supply chains.
The proposed Sokoto–Badagry corridor is expected to serve as a strategic trade artery, linking agricultural regions, industrial centres and port facilities, thereby improving the movement of goods across the country.
However, the project is likely to face scrutiny in parliament, where lawmakers often debate the pace and scale of external borrowing, especially given Nigeria’s rising debt servicing obligations and currency pressures.
Economists say the effectiveness of such infrastructure investments will depend on execution, transparency in procurement and the ability to ensure timely completion within budget.
If approved, the loan would add to Nigeria’s growing portfolio of externally financed infrastructure projects, reflecting the government’s continued reliance on international lenders to bridge infrastructure deficits and support long-term development objectives.
