After approving funding for Phase 1 of the project, the government announced the commencement of preliminary work. However, the project’s deemed exorbitant cost sparked outrage in the country, leading to its suspension.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu officially kicked off the construction of the Lagos-Calabar highway, estimated at 15 trillion nairas (USD 10.2 billion). Spanning 700 kilometers, it will interconnect Lagos, the deep-water port of Lekki, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom.
The project is part of the national transport plan, which envisages massive investments in the construction and rehabilitation of several road axes across all states of the country. In this context, authorities have unveiled a financing plan of USD 35 billion to kickstart the construction of 30,000 kilometers of concrete roads.
Despite being one of Africa’s largest economies, Nigeria still ranks among the countries with the least dense road networks on the continent. According to a World Bank report, the existing infrastructure suffers from a significant maintenance deficit, impacting its viability.