FG Secures US$ 467 million World Bank, AfdB Debt Financing for Roads

The Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen, has disclosed that the World Bank and African development Bank has committed $ 467 million in debt financing for the rehabilitation and expansion of Nigeria’s road network.

The minister disclosed this at a national workshop on attitudinal change in management and financing of roads in Nigeria organized by the Senate Committee on Works.

He said whilst the World Bank would provide $ 300 million for the rehabilitation of 441 kilometers and maintenance of 351 kilometers of road, the African Development Bank would provide $ 167 million for three road projects along the Nigeria-Cameroon highway.

He said, “This kind of investment cannot be possible if there is no attitudinal change in policy formulation, financing and management of road infrastructure in our country.

“We need a shift in institutional structures that will lead to the creation of a national road fund and a federal roads authority by legislation; a shift in the funding mechanism of road projects, from public sector to private sector driven; and a shift from the present palliative regime in road development.”

He added, “Our country needs to make strategic investments in road infrastructure if the objective of the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government to be among the top 20 economies of the world by the year 2020 is to be realised.

“We need to reclaim our national road network from its dilapidated state and once again elevate it to an enviable state, where it can help promote national economic growth and prosperity.”