ABUJA, Nigeria — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested $516,333,070 in external financing from Deutsche Bank to fund sections of the proposed Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, according to a letter sent to the Senate and read during plenary on Thursday, April 23, 2026.
Okay News reports that Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the President’s letter, which explained that the loan would fund Sections 1, 1A, and 1B of the 1,000-kilometre highway designed to link Nigeria’s North-West to the South-West corridor.
“The inclusion of the said financing in the Federal Government’s borrowing plan, as earlier approved by the National Assembly. The Senate is invited to note that the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway is a flagship infrastructure initiative under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” President Tinubu stated in the letter.
The President said the project is expected to improve connectivity, reduce travel time, and strengthen economic integration across regions. “It is also expected to enhance north-south connectivity and road safety, improve network performance along the corridor, reduce logistics costs and travel time, facilitate trade and strengthen food security and promote national integration by linking production zones to markets and ports,” he added.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in a statement issued by his aide Phrank Shaibu, questioned the government’s fiscal discipline. “At a time when Nigeria is already groaning under the weight of unsustainable debt, the resort to yet another foreign loan without transparent terms, clear cost-benefit analysis, and a credible repayment framework raises profound questions about prudence and accountability,” he said.
Seun Onigbinde, Chief Executive Officer of BudgIT, speaking on Channels Television, warned about the risks associated with poorly structured borrowing. “A poorly taken loan is even more dangerous than wasting public revenue,” he said.
The opposition African Democratic Congress also criticised the request. “This request is not only alarming but emblematic of an administration that has made reckless borrowing its default economic policy, with little regard for sustainability, accountability, or the wellbeing of future generations,” the party said in a statement signed by Uko Ndukwe Nkole.
Senate President Akpabio defended the proposal during plenary, stating that borrowing for infrastructure can support economic growth and repayment capacity. “It is better to borrow for projects and infrastructure so that, at the end of the day, we can repay through the infrastructure,” he said.
According to data from the Debt Management Office, total debt service rose to approximately N16 trillion in 2025, an increase of N2.98 trillion or 22.9 percent from the N13.02 trillion recorded in 2024. External debt service stood at $5.15 billion in 2025, accounting for 46.2 percent of total debt servicing.
