Buhari Approves Funds for Lagos-Algiers Highway

• Buhari Approves Funds for Lagos-Algiers Highway

In a move to facilitate Trans-Saharan African trade, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday announced he has approved special funding commitment for the reconstruction of the highway linking Lagos with Algiers, the Algerian capital.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, made the statement at the 70th Session of the Trans-Saharan Road Liaison Committee held in Abuja on Monday.

He said: “I am aware that the committee has made concerted efforts to execute the task of building the Trans-Saharan road, which is also known as the Trans-Saharan African Highway to link Algiers with Nigeria through Lagos.

“The road will also have routes and branches that link Tunisia, Mali and Chad. That highway is a pride of the African continent. This is why Nigeria is supporting and will continue to support (the project).”

He added that “The Nigerian government is currently upgrading the section of the Trans-Saharan road within its borders. Special funding consideration has been committed to the reconstruction work on the sections of Trans-Saharan roads from Lagos to Ibadan and Kaduna to Kano.”

According to him, other sections of the route like the Ibadan to Ilorin, Ilorin to Jebba, Jebba to Mokwa and Mokwa to Kaduna were either being rehabilitated or already made into a dual carriage to facilitate easy movement of goods.

This he said would ease the flow of traffic, especially for heavy-duty vehicles using those roads.

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Works and Housing, explained that the reconstruction would deepen growth across the Sub-Saharan region.

Fashola said, “A total of nine highways at different stages of construction are meant to achieve this connectivity. Three of these highways pass through the territory of Nigeria.

“They are the Lagos-Dakar highway, through Seme in Benin Republic; Lagos-Mombasa, through Yaoundè in Cameroon; and Lagos-Algiers, which is the one supported by this committee and this is the subject of our meeting.”

The minister added that the road presently served 37 regions, 74 urban centres with over 60 million inhabitants in six nations of member committee.