EBID Moves to Fund Calabar–Abuja Super Highway as Umahi Unveils Tinubu’s National Road Network

"The legacy projects were strategically designed as a continuous loop to boost trade, food security, regional integration and economic development across the country." Umahi 

..... Says "the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway connects directly with the Trans-Sahara Super Highway at Ndibe Beach in Cross River State."

..... As Maimouna Sidibe, Head of the Bank’s Basic Infrastructure Division reaffirmed EBID’s commitment to supporting the project, describing it as a strategic infrastructure investment for the region. 

..... Disclosed that the proposal had already received favourable consideration by the bank’s first credit committee and would proceed to a second committee before being presented to the Board of Executive Directors for final approval in July.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has advanced plans to finance a key section of the Calabar–Abuja Trans-Sahara Super Highway, as Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, declared that President Bola Tinubu’s four flagship road projects will form an integrated transport network linking all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

Speaking in Abuja while receiving an EBID appraisal mission led by Maimouna Sidibe, Head of the Bank’s Basic Infrastructure Division, Umahi said the legacy projects were strategically designed as a continuous loop to boost trade, food security, regional integration and economic development across the country.

According to the minister, the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway connects directly with the Trans-Sahara Super Highway at Ndibe Beach in Cross River State. He disclosed that the first section of the Trans-Sahara route, stretching 123.64 kilometres from Ndibe Beach to the Benue border, is already under construction, with additional sections through Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa states awarded.

Umahi described the corridor as a critical agricultural route that traverses major food-producing states, including Ebonyi, Benue and Cross River, noting that the project would drastically reduce travel time between Calabar and Abuja to about four hours.

Beyond transportation, he said the highway would stimulate industrial growth through corridor-based investments, irrigation schemes, renewable energy projects and factory development, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.

The minister further explained that the Trans-Sahara route would connect to another legacy project through the Abuja–Akwanga corridor extending to Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Biu and Maiduguri, while the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway would also link with the proposed Sokoto–Badagry Super Highway.

“When viewed on a map, the projects form a loop that incorporates all six geopolitical zones. From Sokoto, one can access every zone within two days,” Umahi said.

He revealed that construction on Section One of the Trans-Sahara Super Highway has surpassed 20 per cent completion and called for the speedy release of the loan facility to sustain progress as work advances.

On her part, Sidibe reaffirmed EBID’s commitment to supporting the project, describing it as a strategic infrastructure investment for the region. She disclosed that the proposal had already received favourable consideration by the bank’s first credit committee and would proceed to a second committee before being presented to the Board of Executive Directors for final approval in July.

The EBID official commended the Federal Government for meeting about 30 per cent of its counterpart funding obligations and expressed satisfaction with the quality of work already executed on the project.

She noted that the road technology being deployed had demonstrated durability on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and is expected to deliver infrastructure with a lifespan of at least 50 years.

The EBID delegation is conducting site inspections and consultations with relevant agencies as part of the appraisal process ahead of the anticipated approval of financing for the strategic highway project.