Breaking: Tinubu Moves To Secure Senate Backing for $516m Borrowing Plan

The request was contained in a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during Thursday’s plenary session.

Tinubu explained that the project is a 1,000-kilometre flagship highway designed to connect Nigeria’s North-West to the South-West, running from Illela in Sokoto State through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, and Ogun States before terminating in Badagry, Lagos.

According to the proposal, the loan will specifically fund Sections 1, Phase 1a and 1b, covering about 120 kilometres of the corridor. The financing is structured as a syndicated facility from Deutsche Bank AG, backed by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit.

The Federal Government is also expected to contribute over ₦265.5 billion as counterpart funding for land acquisition, compensation, and related infrastructure. The loan has a nine-year repayment period, including a grace period of up to three years, with interest pegged at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR plus 5.3 percent annually.

Tinubu stated that the Federal Executive Council had already approved the arrangement and its inclusion in the national borrowing plan, noting that the project would improve connectivity, enhance safety, reduce logistics costs, and boost trade and national integration.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio referred the request to the Committee on Foreign and Local Debts, directing it to report back within one week.

Meanwhile, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero described the project as long overdue, noting that it has been in planning for decades and expressing optimism about its potential to significantly reduce travel time between Sokoto and Lagos once completed.