Tinubu Vows Greater Spending on Sustainable Infrastructure Projects

In addition to promising additional funding for infrastructure development, President Bola Tinubu asked governors to work with the federal government to coordinate building clearances.

During his Thursday commissioning of the Lekki Deep Sea Port Access Road at the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Plant in Lagos, the president stated that appropriate alignment of subnational and federal approvals will make it easier to build major roads and bridges throughout the nation.

“I have instructed David Umahi, the Minister of Works, and the Federation’s Surveyor General to collaborate more closely with the governors,” the President declared.

According to President Tinubu, coordinating state and federal clearances will lessen the financial strain and delays in implementing people-oriented projects.

“Please, governors, let’s cooperate. Planning approvals should only be granted after consulting with the Ministry of Works and the Surveyor General. Please realize the same development objective, I beg you.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has prohibited any dredging within a 10-kilometer radius of any of our bridges across the country. Let me emphasize this. “I urge all governors, pertinent agencies, and security agencies to put this ban into effect right away,” President Tinubu stated.

The event took place in Lagos five days after the President officially opened Phase 1 of Section One of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

He expressed gratitude to the Federal Ministry of Works, BUA, Messrs. Hitech Construction Company Limited, and Dangote Industries Limited, as well as to all of the contractors working on the nation’s road construction. He stated that the construction of durable infrastructure across the country is a priority for his administration.

Critics of the government’s legacy projects were dismissed by him as being uninformed about the process by which the government chose the contractors to build the legacy roads.

Importantly, the Federal Executive Council authorized the procurement, awarding, and construction of our Legacy Projects in phases. The finished 30-kilometer stretch of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is not a wholesale 750-kilometer contract as some have claimed; rather, it is a component of the 47.7-kilometer, six-lane Section I contract. The full corridor has not yet been given to a contractor.

Our strategy has been section-based, clear, and methodical. We have also brought back to life another heritage project, the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, which was envisioned 47 years ago during the Shagari regime. This corridor, which runs through Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, and Lagos, has enormous potential for trade, industry, and agriculture.

“It has a lot of potential for windmill energy generation and links our neighbors in West Africa with more than 58 dams, expansive farmlands, and trade routes.” Construction is fully under way. Over 10 kilometers of the 258 km three-lane carriageway have been finished in Kebbi, and the second carriageway is being flagged off today. Among all of our Legacy Projects, this part is the longest.

Work on the 120-kilometer, three-lane, two-carriageway from Illela has started in Sokoto. I am aware that more than ten kilometers have already been finished on this project. The 120-kilometer, three-lane second highway will be flagged off today.

This section’s work is also at an advanced stage. Other portions of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway are being developed for award and procurement. While traveling here, I noticed that Section II of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway had made great strides, with more than 10 kilometers of the 55 km stretch already finished.

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“I am also happy to announce that construction is still underway in the Akwa Ibom and Cross River portions, and I have instructed that more segments be planned and acquired. An additional ambitious project that is making steady progress is the Trans-Sahara Trade Route. It will travel across Ebonyi, Benue, Kogi, and Nasarawa to link Calabar and Abuja,” he stated.

The 4th Legacy Project of the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi and Gombe corridor has accelerated design, according to President Tinubu, so that procurement may begin.

“I want to reassure you that we will finish these projects and use them to boost our country’s economy if God is on our side.”

The President also commissioned the following projects: Ilobu-Erinle Road, Kwara/Osun States (IAC), Kwanar-Hadejia Section II (82km), Kano/Jigawa States (CCECC), Jimeta Bridge, Adamawa State (Triacta), Yakasai to Zalli Road, Kano State (CCECC), Shendam Bridge, Plateau State (Triacta), and Cham-Numan Bridge, Adamawa State (CGC).

Section I Phase IB of the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway spans 120 km in Sokoto State; Section II Phase 2 B spans 258 km in Kebbi State; the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway (Section II) spans 55 km from Lagos to the Ogun State border; Zaria-Hunkuyi to Daya Road (Sections I, II, & III) spans 152.67 km in Kaduna/Kano States; and Dikwa – Gamboru – Ngala Road is 49.55 km in Borno State. All of these projects were signed off by President Tinubu.

The dualization of the Kano-Maiduguri Road, which connects Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe, and Borno States, was also completed. It is 100.95 km long, along with the construction of the Maiduguri Ring Road, which is 108 km long, the Kano Northern Bypass Road, which is 74 km long, the 7th Axial Road, which is 25 km long and 6-lane, from Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos State to Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, and the rehabilitation of the Lokoja-Benin road, which is made of rigid pavement.

Other highways include the 104-kilometer Oyo—Ogbomoso Road dualization in Oyo State; the 264-kilometer (BUA Tax Credit) dualization of Kano—Daura—Kongolam in Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina States; and the 49.15-kilometer (Dangote Tax Credit) restoration of Bama–Banki Road in Borno State.

The President expressed gratitude to the “four wise men of the private sector”—Aliko Dangote, Jim Ovia, Femi Otedola, and Abdulsamad Rabiu—for their contributions to Nigeria’s economy. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and Roland and Gilbert Chagoury, the Minister of Works, were also commended by him.

The governors of the states of Plateau, Abia, Enugu, Ogun, Borno, and Kaduna were present at the event.

Kaduna State Governor Sen. Uba Sani spoke on behalf of the governors and expressed gratitude to the president for eliminating the subsidy, which resulted in higher state funding for infrastructure, education, and health.

The sub-national cooperation to upgrade the country’s infrastructure was promised to the president by Sani.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote was commended by President Tinubu for his commitment to the nation’s ongoing development through investments.

“After seeing the Dangote refinery, which is a huge investment, a great point of reference, and a great phenomenon of our time, I would like to thank Aliko Dangote,” he said. The Deep Sea Port, which I started as Lagos State’s governor, is a great success today, and I’m glad about it. By eliminating the need to transship their goods, users of this port save a significant amount of money. I applaud Messrs. Dangote Industries Limited and the subcontractor, Messrs. Hitech Construction Company Limited, for the high caliber of the access road they completed for our Tax Credit Road initiative.

In addition to thanking the president for conceiving and carrying out the Lekki Deep Sea Port project, Dangote Group president Aliko Dangote promised the president that the private sector will assist the expansion of infrastructure across the country.