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ECOWAS Bank approves $100m for Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project
The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) has approved a $100 million facility to support the construction of a 47.7-kilometre stretch of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, marking a significant step forward for Nigeria’s ambitious 700km infrastructure project.
The newly approved funding will go towards Section 1, Phase 1 of the highway, which begins at Ahmadu Bello Way in Lagos. Construction of this section commenced in March 2024 and is being executed by Hitech Construction Company Limited.
The funding announcement was part of EBID’s 92nd Board of Directors’ Ordinary Session, held on June 30, 2025. In a report obtained on Thursday, the bank said it had committed a total of €174 million and $125 million to various infrastructure and social development projects across the West African region.
According to EBID, the Lagos-Calabar highway project will enhance connectivity across nine Nigerian states, improve access to seaports and remote agro-industrial zones, and promote the efficient movement of goods and services along Nigeria’s southern economic corridor.
The project is also expected to contribute to the development of a regional value chain that will benefit coastal communities.
“A $100m Lagos-Calabar coastal motorway project, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This project, which spans 47.7km, will link nine Nigerian states, improve access to seaports and isolated agro-industrial areas, and contribute to the emergence of a regional value chain to help coastal communities,” the bank said in its report.
Beyond Nigeria, EBID also approved several other projects across the sub-region. These include a €50 million investment in Togo for the construction and equipping of six technical and vocational education centres expected to train 3,480 youths annually in high-demand fields.
In Guinea, €28.9 million was allocated to modernise four agricultural high schools, while another €95.16 million was approved for the construction of three hydroelectric micro-power plants with a combined output of 30MW to boost renewable energy access in rural areas.
In Côte d’Ivoire, the bank approved $25 million for the importation of clinker by Société de Ciment de Côte d’Ivoire to ease raw material shortages and enhance cement production.
EBID noted that these new investments align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). With these latest commitments, the bank’s cumulative investments in West Africa have now surpassed $5 billion.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian government, which began construction on the coastal highway in March 2024, has so far awarded contracts worth over N3 trillion for multiple segments of the project across Lagos, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River States.
According to the Minister of Works, David Umahi, Section I was awarded for N1.068 trillion, with 30 percent of the contract sum already disbursed. Section II, which includes several bridges and crosses swampy terrain linking to the Dangote Refinery, was awarded at N1.6 trillion.
Sections IIIA and IIIB, covering parts of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, were jointly procured at N1.33 trillion.
President Bola Tinubu commissioned the first completed segment of the highway in May 2025, affirming his administration’s commitment to delivering the entire project by 2028.
