President Tinubu requests urgent Deutsche Bank loan approval to fund Nigeria’s most ambitious road project
President Tinubu formally wrote to the Senate on Thursday, April 24, 2026, requesting approval to borrow $516,333,070 from Deutsche Bank to finance the Sokoto-Badagry 1,000km Super Highway, one of Nigeria’s most ambitious infrastructure projects in decades.
The letter, addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and read during plenary, asks lawmakers to act with urgency. Tinubu specifically requested “expeditious passage” of the loan approval.
Senate President Akpabio immediately referred the letter to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, with a directive to return a report within one week.
The Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway is not a new idea; it has existed on Nigeria’s infrastructure wish list for years. However, the Tinubu administration has moved to give it financial teeth.
The proposed 1,000-kilometer corridor would connect Sokoto in Nigeria’s far northwest to Badagry on the southwestern Atlantic coast.
If completed, it would open up trade routes across multiple states, reduce logistics costs, and link landlocked northern communities to seaports.
The $516 million loan from Deutsche Bank, one of Europe’s largest financial institutions, forms part of an already approved borrowing plan tied specifically to this project.
Thursday’s request is therefore not a new commitment; it is a formalization of financing for a program already sanctioned in principle.
Debt concerns shadow the request
Nigeria’s public debt burden remains a flashpoint in the national conversation. As of late 2025, the country’s total public debt stood at approximately ₦142 trillion, according to the Debt Management Office, a figure that has drawn sharp criticism from economists and opposition voices alike.
“Every kobo borrowed must be tied to a productive asset that generates returns,” said a Lagos-based fiscal policy analyst. “A highway of this scale could justify the borrowing — but only if it is executed without the leakages that have defined past infrastructure projects.”
Others point to the potential multiplier effect. Roads reduce the cost of moving goods, attract private investment, and create construction jobs.
The Sokoto-Badagry corridor, proponents argue, could catalyse economic activity across one of Nigeria’s most underserved geographic stretches.
Senate’s one-week clock begins
The referral to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts sets a tight legislative timeline. The committee has one week to review the terms of the Deutsche Bank facility, assess its implications for Nigeria’s debt profile, and present its findings to the full chamber.
“The Senate will do its due diligence,” a senior legislative aide told TheCable. “But the president’s request for speed suggests this financing window may not stay open indefinitely.”
Whether lawmakers green-light the loan swiftly or subject it to deeper scrutiny will signal how much fiscal independence the ninth Senate is willing to assert.
What happens next
If the Senate approves the loan, the federal government can proceed to draw down the Deutsche Bank facility and mobilize contractors along the highway corridor.
A rejection, or prolonged delay, could stall momentum on a project that has already waited years to leave the drawing board.
For millions of Nigerians living along that 1,000-kilometre stretch, the Senate’s decision next week is not just a legislative formality.
It is a vote on whether a road they have long been promised will finally be built.
