President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the successful closure of a $1.26 billion financing package for Phase 1, Section 2 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing the development as a significant boost to Nigeria’s infrastructure expansion and economic ambitions.
In a statement issued on Friday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the president commended the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Works, and the Debt Management Office for working in concert to secure the funding. He noted that the deal would ensure uninterrupted progress on one of the administration’s most ambitious road projects.
Onanuga said the president views the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as a transformative national asset, adding that critics of the project would be disproved once construction is completed. According to the statement, Tinubu said the financing milestone underscores his administration’s resolve to deploy innovative funding models to deliver large-scale infrastructure critical to national development.
Phase 1, Section 2 of the highway covers approximately 55.7 kilometres, stretching from Eleko in the Lekki axis to Ode-Omi. The government said the corridor is expected to strengthen economic linkages, improve logistics efficiency, and deepen national and regional trade connectivity. The new financing follows an earlier $747 million facility secured for Phase 1, Section 1, reinforcing what officials describe as the project’s scalability and growing appeal to international financiers.
The funding package was fully underwritten by First Abu Dhabi Bank, with risk mitigation provided by the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC), marking ICIEC’s first transaction in Nigeria since recent institutional and regulatory reforms. Authorities said the structure of the deal reflects rising investor confidence in Nigeria’s evolving investment climate.
SkyKapital acted as lead financial adviser on the transaction, while environmental and social advisory services were delivered by Earth Active (UK) in line with international environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. Legal advisory roles were handled by Hogan Lovells as international counsel and Templars as Nigerian legal counsel.
Also quoted in the statement, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, described the agreement as a defining moment in Nigeria’s infrastructure journey.
He said the funds would be deployed prudently to ensure timely delivery of the project, noting that the transaction ranks among the largest ICIEC-supported deals since the institution’s establishment.
Construction of the highway is being executed by Hitech Construction Company Limited, whose work on-site has reportedly earned commendation from lenders for engineering quality and execution speed.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a proposed 700-kilometre interstate road designed to link Lagos in the Southwest with Calabar in the South-South. It is a flagship initiative under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and is intended to run largely along Nigeria’s coastline.
By securing financing for Section 2 shortly after closing the $747 million deal for Section 1, the government says it is demonstrating the project’s financial viability to global markets, countering claims that the highway is overly ambitious.
Critics have raised concerns over the project’s overall cost, the absence of an open competitive bidding process – given that it was awarded to Hitech Construction – and the demolition of businesses along parts of the Lagos coastline.
The Tinubu administration, however, maintains that the highway will unlock the country’s “blue economy” by boosting fishing, tourism, and maritime trade, while significantly reducing travel time between the Southwest and the South-South, which currently depends on deteriorating inland road networks.
