ABUJA, Nigeria — The House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, approved a $516 million external loan request by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to fund sections of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway project.
Okay News reports that the approval followed the presentation of a report by Abdullahi Rasheed, deputy chairman of the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debts Management, during plenary in Abuja.
President Tinubu had, in a letter dated Thursday, April 23, 2026, sought the National Assembly’s approval to secure a $516,333,007 syndicated loan from Deutsche Bank AG to finance the proposed highway. The Senate had earlier considered the request, with Senate President Godswill Akpabio defending the borrowing plan.
“It is better to borrow for projects and infrastructure so that, at the end of the day, we can repay through the infrastructure,” Akpabio said.
The loan will fund Sections 1, 1A, and 1B of the superhighway, covering approximately 120 kilometres in the first phase. The broader project spans about 1,000 kilometres and is designed to link Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, connecting Illela to Badagry.
The facility, arranged by Deutsche Bank and backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit, has a tenure of nine years, including a three-year grace period. It carries an interest rate pegged at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum. The Federal Government is expected to provide over N265 billion in counterpart funding for land acquisition, compensation, and related infrastructure costs.
The borrowing plan has drawn mixed reactions. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, through his aide Phrank Shaibu, questioned the government’s fiscal discipline, while BudgIT chief executive Seun Onigbinde warned about poorly structured loans. Data from the Debt Management Office shows total debt service rose to about N16 trillion in 2025, up 22.9 percent from N13.02 trillion in 2024.
