KEY POINTS

• The Senate has begun formal consideration of President Tinubu’s $516.3 million loan request for sections of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.
• Senate President Godswill Akpabio called the project a major economic game changer and ordered the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts to report back in one week.
• The syndicated facility arranged through Deutsche Bank carries a nine-year tenure with interest tied to SOFR plus 5.3 percent.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has thrown the full weight of the upper chamber behind President Bola Tinubu’s $516.3 million loan request for the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway. He ordered lawmakers on Thursday to wrap up their review of the deal within a single week.

The request, read during plenary, seeks National Assembly approval for a syndicated loan arranged through Deutsche Bank AG. The money would fund Sections 1, 1A and 1B of the 1,000-kilometer road, one of the flagship projects of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Akpabio framed the borrowing as the kind of strategic investment that pays for itself. Specifically, he argued that long-term benefits like improved productivity and safer travel make the loan worth every cent.

“This is a major economic game changer. Borrowing for critical infrastructure like this is justified, especially when it will generate long-term economic benefits and improve the quality of life for Nigerians,” the Senate president said.

The project on paper

Tinubu, in his letter to the chamber, described the superhighway as a strategic initiative to open up the Northwest and Southwest economic corridors. The road will stretch from Illela in Sokoto to Badagry in Lagos, cutting across Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states.

Furthermore, the president said the project would enhance north-south connectivity and road safety, cut logistics costs and travel time, boost trade, strengthen food security and advance national integration.

The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit will back the facility with a partial risk guarantee. Meanwhile, the Federal Government will put up counterpart funding of about 265.5 billion naira for land acquisition, compensation and related infrastructure.

According to Tinubu, the loan carries a nine-year tenure with a grace period of up to three years. Additionally, the interest rate will not exceed the Chicago Mercantile Exchange SOFR benchmark plus 5.3 percent per year.

He is seeking the approval under Sections 16 and 21 of the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act, 2011, and as part of the Federal Government’s borrowing plan that lawmakers already endorsed earlier.

A senator’s endorsement

Kebbi Central Senator Adamu Aliero threw his weight behind the project, calling it long overdue. He said the road has sat on the drawing board for more than 50 years and finally looks set to become reality.

“I commend Mr. President for initiating what I call a landmark project. This is a project that has been in contemplation for more than 50 years, and today it is becoming a reality,” Aliero said.

Aliero, who has personally inspected completed and under-construction sections, noted that the engineers used reinforced concrete and solar-powered street lighting. Moreover, he said the road will slash travel time between Sokoto and Lagos from about 13 hours to roughly six and transform economic activity across the northwest, north-central and southwest.

Now the Senate has referred the request to its Committee on Local and Foreign Debts. Akpabio directed the panel to return with its recommendations in one week, signaling how eager the chamber is to move. With critics already raising red flags over the rising debt profile, the committee’s findings will shape whether the chamber ultimately signs off on the deal or tempers it with conditions.