The Economic Community of West African States Bank for Investment and Development has approved 100 million dollars in funding for a 47.7-kilometer stretch of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. This funding, announced during the bank's ninety-second ordinary session alongside other major infrastructure investments across West Africa, will support the Nigerian federal government's goal to complete the entire 700-kilometer highway by 2028. Executed by Hitech Construction Company Limited since March 2024, this initial phase starts from Ahmadu Bello Way in Lagos. The highway project aims to link nine Nigerian states, improve access to seaports and remote agricultural zones, and create a regional value chain to uplift coastal communities. President Bola Tinubu previously commissioned the first completed section of the highway in May 2025. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, revealed that the government has procured contracts worth over 3 trillion Naira for multiple sections across Lagos, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River states. Beyond Nigeria, the bank approved projects totaling millions of Euros and Dollars for technical schools in Togo, agricultural and hydroelectric facilities in Guinea, and cement production support in Côte d’Ivoire. These investments align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and push the bank's total regional commitments past 5 billion dollars. Attempts to get comments from the media aide to the Minister of Works, Orji Uchenna, were unsuccessful before publication.
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