Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says President Bola Tinubu’s $516 million loan request to fund sections of the Sokoto–Badagry superhighway amounts to a reckless fiscal choice.
Tinubu had asked the national assembly to approve a $516,333,007 foreign loan to support the construction of sections of the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway project on Thursday.
A letter addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and read during plenary, said the loan is to be sourced from a syndicated financing facility by Deutsche Bank and will fund sections 1, 1A and 1B of the project, covering about 120 kilometres.
Tinubu had requested that the loan be included in the federal government’s borrowing plan.
The national assembly has approved the loan request.
Reacting to the development through a statement, Phrank Shaibu, senior special assistant on public communication to Abubakar, said any infrastructure that links the north-west to the south-west is “necessary and desirable”, but cautioned that “noble intentions cannot excuse reckless fiscal choices”.
The former vice-president expressed concern over Nigeria’s rising debt profile, noting that further borrowing without transparency and clear repayment plans is troubling.
“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,” he said.
Abubakar added that the issue should not be framed along regional lines, stating that all Nigerians deserve development that is sustainable and transparent.
“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.
The former presidential candidate queried the award of the project to Hitech Construction Limited “without a competitive bidding process”.
“Nigerians have not forgotten the controversy surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, where due process and competitive bidding were widely questioned,” he said.
“It is therefore deeply troubling that a similar opaque approach appears to be playing out again, this time funded by borrowed money.”
Abubakar described the development as the practice of awarding contracts to associates without transparency and warned that it undermines public trust.
“What manner of leadership takes loans in the name of the Nigerian people, only to channel those resources into contracts awarded without transparency to associates and insiders? This is not governance — it is a betrayal of public trust,” the statement reads.
“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.”
The former vice-president, however, called on the national assembly to scrutinise the loan request and ensure that the terms are in the best interest of the Nigerian people 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,” Abubakar added.
