In recent times, Nigeria has spent an average of N3.7 billion ($2.31 million) on the construction of a kilometre of road, making it the nation with the most expensive roads in Africa.
The Federal Ministry of Works recently disclosed that it has made significant investments in the northern part of Nigeria, pointing out that the 258-kilometre carriageway in Kebbi State was awarded at N958 billion for just one lane.
David Umahi, Minister of Works, disclosed this recently, noting that the procurement for the second lane was still awaiting the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval. He said that when both lanes were accounted for, the total investment on the Kebbi corridor alone would approach N2 trillion.
Analysts say N958 billion is being spent on the construction of a 258-kilometre road means each kilometre will cost the government approximately N3.7 billion, adding that, going by the N2 billion projected for both lanes of the road, it will cost about N4 billion per kilometre.
The minister also disclosed that, in Sokoto State, a 120-kilometre road has been procured for N454 billion, and when the second carriageway is approved, the combined infrastructure commitment in the Kebbi–Sokoto axis will be near N3 trillion. At that cost, the Sokoto road costs approximately N3.8 billion per kilometre.
Also recently, Umahi confirmed that the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway is being constructed at N4 billion ($2.5 million) per kilometre, placing it far ahead of $1.65 billion budget for the 10,228 km Cairo-Cape Town highway, touted as Africa’s longest road, stretching across 10 nations, at just $156,000/km per kilometre.
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Analysts estimate that at N4 billion per kilometre, the coastal highway costs about seven times more per km than the Cairo-Cape Town route, which is why Atiku Abubakar, former vice president, who has been very critical of the project, says its total cost at over N15 trillion nearly matches the combined 2024 budgets of Nigeria’s 36 states.
Nigeria vs African peers
In Nigeria, it costs $2.3 million to build a kilometre of road, but Egypt spends an average of $1.68 million on the same project, according to an analysis by ZAWYA, a financial newspaper.
In Kenya, the cost stands at $270,940.25 (Ks 35 million). It can go as high as $300,000 to $1 million per kilometre, depending on the terrain, class of road and materials, according to Interregnum Construction and the Daily Nation.
Also, the cost of building a kilometre for the Ethiopian section of the Cairo-Cape Town highway stands around $156,000 per kilometre.
In South Africa, building a kilometre of road costs from $195,776 (R3.5 million) to $559,362.01 (R 10 million), but it is significantly lower than Nigeria’s rate.
Research findings by the Anti-Corruption Network (ACN) show that in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, it costs $194,000 to build one km of paved road.
In Liberia, the cost of building a kilometre-road is estimated at $1 million or $1.2million.
For Ghana, Nigeria’s closest neighbour, the cost of constructing one kilometre of road also varies significantly, but a rough estimate for an asphalt road is around GH¢1.5 million ($145,278). However, the exact cost depends on various factors such as the type of road, the terrain, the materials used, and the complexity of the project.
In Tanzania, a rough estimate for an earth road is $8,000-$10,000 per kilometre, but a gravel road is higher. A gravel road can go as high as $10,000-$15,000 per kilometre. Paved roads in Tanzania range from $300,000 to $430,000, according to Citizen Tanzania.
In Cameroon, the cost of building a kilometre is estimated at $366,244 (CFAF 205 million), says Business in Cameroon.
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‘Outrageous’ cost
An Anti-Corruption Network report described the cost of road construction projects in Nigeria as outrageous, citing the reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road project recently awarded at the cost of N797 billion.
The 375-kilometre road, according to the Network, is very expensive at an average cost of $6m (N2.1 billion) per kilometre.
“The Anti-Corruption Network has observed with dismay that the cost of road construction in Nigeria has been consistently outrageous, which calls for serious scrutiny,” Dino Melaye, ACN’s executive secretary and a former senator, noted, citing a World Bank report which pegs the cost of constructing 1km of road at N238m.
“This figure is the benchmark that should not be surpassed regardless of several factors,” Melaye advised.
BusinessDay had, in an earlier report, highlighted some federal government contracts, comparing them with similar contracts awarded elsewhere and at the same time. The report cited the contract for the reconstruction of the 127km Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at N167bn ($1 billion at the time it was awarded).
The report compared this with the contract awarded for the 1,028km ECOWAS road project to connect five major cities in the region, namely Lagos, Nigeria; Cotonou, Benin Republic; Lome, Togo; Accra, Ghana and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The project was estimated at the cost of N167bn and N240bn then (around 2013).
At the projected maximum cost of N240 billion, the cost of the ECOWAS road per km was N234 million, whereas the six-lane expressway road contract awarded by the federal government at N167 billion was N1.3 billion per kilometre.
The cost of maintaining a kilometre of road in Nigeria is also expensive, according to an Abuja-based Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which estimates the cost at between N400 million and N1 billion, quoting a World Bank study.
