….as Atiku questions loan terms

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sought the approval of the Senate for a $516,333,007 million loan from a Deutsche bank to fund the execution of Sections 1, Phase 1a and 1b of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway.

In a letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during plenary, the President stated that the 1,000km flagship project is designed to link Nigeria’s Northwest to the Southwest.

The highway, he said, would run from Illela, Sokoto State, through Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, and Ogun, terminating in Badagry, Lagos State.

According to the letter, the loan will cover Sections 1, Phase 1a, and 1b, spanning 120km of the total 1,000km corridor.

The President said proposed financing arrangement comprises a syndicated loan to be secured through Deutsche Bank AG, supported by a partial risk guarantee from the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), the insurance arm of the Islamic Development Bank.

He said the Federal Government would provide counterpart funding in the sum of ₦265,542,689,569, covering land acquisition, compensation, and ancillary infrastructure.

The loan has a tenor of nine years, including a grace period of up to three years, with an interest rate not exceeding the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) SOFR plus 5.3 percent per annum.

The President noted that the Federal Executive Council had already approved the financing arrangement and requested the Senate to include the loan in the national borrowing plan.

The letter highlights that the superhighway will improve North-South connectivity, enhance safety, and reduce logistics costs.

The project is also expected to strengthen trade, food security, and national cohesion by linking production zones to markets and ports as well as reserve the central median for future rail integration and utility corridors.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided over the plenary, referred the request to the Committee on Foreign and Local Debts.

The committee is expected to report back within one week.

Speaking on the project, Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) lauded the initiative, noting that the project has been in the making for 55 years.

“This project has been on the ground for the last 55 years,” Aliero said. “I have inspected the project and I have seen the progress made. I am highly impressed.”

Aliero confirmed that ongoing work features both concrete and asphalt roads fitted with solar streetlights.

He estimated that, upon completion, travel time from Sokoto to Lagos would drop by more than 70% reducing a 13-hour journey to approximately six hours.

He urged the Senate to expeditiously approve the request once the committee submits its report

Reacting,Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar warned that Nigeria must not borrow blindly in the name of development.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku acknowledged the necessity of infrastructure development particularly a project connecting the Northwest to the Southwest but drew a sharp distinction between noble intentions and reckless fiscal decisions.

“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,” Atiku stated.

The former Vice President was emphatic that the matter should not be reduced to a regional debate.

The people of Northern Nigeria, he argued, like their counterparts across the country, deserve development that is sustainable and transparent not one mortgaged against their future.

“What Nigerians expect is not just ambitious projects, but responsible financing. Development must not become a euphemism for deepening debt traps that generations yet unborn will be forced to repay,” he said.

Atiku argued that while strategic infrastructure can unlock economic corridors, it must be pursued within the bounds of fiscal discipline, sound prioritisation, and openness and that borrowing must never substitute for creativity in governance or efficiency in resource management.

On the contracting process, he cited the controversy that trailed the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway as a cautionary tale.

“Nigerians have not forgotten the serious questions surrounding the opaque award process of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, where due process, competitive bidding, and value-for-money considerations were widely called into question. We must not replicate such a troubling precedent,” Atiku warned.

He insisted that the Sokoto–Badagry project must not degenerate into another exercise in favouritism or insider contracting, adding that public infrastructure cannot become a private bazaar for cronies and connected interests.

“Every kobo borrowed in the name of the Nigerian people must be matched with transparency, accountability, and strict adherence to procurement laws,” he said.

Atiku urged the National Assembly to subject the loan request to the highest level of scrutiny and ensure that its terms serve the interests of Nigerians and that the project delivers measurable economic value.

“Nigeria must build, but Nigeria must not borrow blindly. Progress anchored on opacity and debt accumulation is neither progress nor leadership, it is postponement of crisis,” he concluded