The House of Representatives has approved President Bola
Tinubu’s request to borrow $516,333,007 foreign loan to support the
construction of sections of the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway.
The green chamber ratified the president’s request during
Tuesday’s plenary following the presentation of a report by Abdullahi Rasheed,
deputy chairman of the committee on aids, loans, and debts management.
The lawmakers passed the president’s request in record time.
The process moved from the reading of the loan request
letter by Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, to the consideration of the
committee’s report at the committee on supply and final approval.
The lower legislative chamber demanded quarterly reports
from the ministry of finance, Debt Management Office (DMO), and works ministry
on the project implementation and disbursement of funds.
In the letter, Tinubu said the loan — to be sourced from a
syndicated financing facility by Deutsche Bank — will fund sections 1, 1A and
1B of the project, covering about 120 kilometres.
Tinubu said the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway, a flagship
infrastructure initiative under the renewed hope agenda, is designed to open up
Nigeria’s north-west and south-west economic corridor through the construction
of an approximately 1,000-kilometre high-capacity carriageway, linking Sokoto,
Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos states, stretching from Illela to
Badagry.
“The 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,” the
letter reads.
Tinubu said the federal government will provide counterpart
funding of N265,542,689,569 to cover land acquisition, compensation, and
ancillary infrastructure.
The president said the loan has a nine-year tenure,
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.
Tinubu said the road project would improve network
performance along the corridor, reduce logistics costs and travel time,
facilitate trade and strengthen food security, promote national integration by
linking production zones to markets and ports, and provide long-term intermodal
flexibility through provision for future rail integration and utility
corridors.
Last Thursday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the
president’s letter during plenary and subsequently referred the request to the
senate committee on local and foreign debts for further legislative action.
By
TheTimes Nigeria
