On Thursday, April 23, 2026, President Bola Tinubu requested the National Assembly to approve a $516 million external loan for the Sokoto–Badagry Highway project.
Both chambers obliged. The House of Representatives approved the request on Tuesday, 28 April and the Senate did same the next day.
The loan is expected to fund Sections 1, 1A and 1B of the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway, covering approximately 120 kilometres of the first phase of the broader project. The full project is expected to span about 1,000 kilometres, linking Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun and Lagos states from Illela (in Sokoto state) to Badagry. The financing comes through a Deutsche Bank-led syndicated facility with a nine-year term and up to three years’ grace period.
The project has a clear development argument. Nigeria needs roads. Better transport links can reduce travel time, support trade, improve food movement and connect communities. Nairametrics
But the speed and manner of the approval raise questions about how the National Assembly is treating its oversight role.
The loan is not the only issue
The $516 million request did not arrive in isolation. It came less than a month after the National Assembly approved about $6 billion in external borrowing tied to the 2026 budget. It also follows the signing of a record ₦68.3 trillion budget, which depends heavily on borrowing to fund its deficit.
Nigeria’s debt profile gives the concern more weight. As of December 2025, the country’s total public debt stood at about ₦159.28 trillion, according to figures released by the Debt Management Office in April 2026. That is an increase from ₦153.29 trillion in September 2025 and ₦144.67 trillion in December 2024. In one year, Nigeria’s debt stock grew by over ₦14 trillion.
This is why each new loan request deserves close attention. Borrowing is no longer occasional. It is becoming a regular part of how government finances major plans. That makes legislative scrutiny more important, not less.
NASS should not be a rubber stamp
The Constitution requires the executive to seek legislative approval before external borrowing. That approval is not meant to be a formality. It is supposed to give lawmakers a chance to ask hard questions before the country takes on new debt. The Fiscal Responsibility Act also expects borrowing to support capital expenditure and human development, and to remain within sustainable limits.
On this occasion, both chambers approved the request within days. As part of its oversight role, the House directed the Ministry of Finance, the Debt Management Office, and the Ministry of Works to submit quarterly reports detailing project implementation and disbursement of funds. That is a step in the right direction. But a directive for quarterly reports does not substitute for the harder questions that should have been answered before approval, not after.
Lawmakers should have sought specificity on project timelines, contractors, procurement details and expected deliverables beyond the 120 kilometres covered in this phase. What will the loan really cost? The headline figure is $516 million, but the full cost of servicing the facility over nine years, including interest, fees, counterpart funding obligations, is a separate and larger number. How does it fit into Nigeria’s debt strategy? The loan should not be treated as a standalone request but assessed against Nigeria’s wider debt stock and medium-term fiscal framework. And critically, what happened to previously approved loans? Have earlier debt-funded projects been completed? Are Nigerians seeing the promised benefits?
These are not obstructionist questions. They are the minimum that responsible oversight requires.
Approval is not oversight
The concern is not that the Sokoto–Badagry Highway is unnecessary, but whether the approval process was serious enough. Recent borrowing requests have often moved through the National Assembly without much visible public interrogation of their terms, project performance or long-term repayment burden. When approvals happen this way, legislative approval begins to look like endorsement rather than oversight, which is risky.
Borrowing can be justified when it funds projects that strengthen the economy and improve people’s lives. But borrowing without strong scrutiny can leave the country with debt, unfinished projects and little public benefit.
What citizens should expect
The $516 million approval is not just a financing matter between the executive and the legislature, but a public accountability question. At ₦159.28 trillion and rising, Nigeria’s debt is too large for routine processing.
Citizens deserve to know what the money will fund, how it will be repaid, and who will be held accountable if the project does not deliver. That is the difference between a legislature that merely approves borrowing and one that actually scrutinises it. Quarterly reports are a start. But they are only useful if the legislature is willing to act on what those reports reveal, and that remains to be seen.