The Federal Government plans to reintroduce tolls on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, and other key roads across the country. Learn more about the toll policy and its impact on road users
Following the completion of construction and restoration, the Federal Government plans to impose tolls on all important roads nationwide, according to Minister of Works Dave Umahi.
As part of events to commemorate Nigeria’s 64th anniversary of independence, Umahi stated during an Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing on Thursday in Abuja, “We have the Lagos-Ibadan (Expressway), we are completing it and we are tolling it.”
Among the routes he mentioned were Makurdi-9th Mile, Abuja-Kano Road, Second Niger Bridge, and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Tolls on federal highways “are going to bring a lot of money to the Federal Government,” according to the former governor of Ebonyi State.
According to Umahi, the private sector has been brought in “to bring in funds, construct these roads, and work with the Ministry of Works and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to toll these roads.”
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The minister stated that his ministry has been in contact with the Ministry of Finance on a paperless payment system, and that the government would begin with the completed Keffi-Makurdi Road.
“For instance, we are finishing the Lagos-Ibadan, we are working from Abuja to Lagos, and we are working on Makurdi to 9th Mile in Enugu State,” he stated. There will be tolls on these roads. However, we are boosting trust in the usage of these roads—we are not merely tolling them.
“There will be confidence because Nigerians will pay if the roads are good if people can travel at night because we are bringing security, where response times will be 10 minutes on the entire corridor, where solar light is permanently there and reduces travel time, and through the tolling, the roads are maintained.”
He claimed that although road developments had not previously been treated as investments, President Bola Tinubu’s administration had been managing them with greater professionalism.
He added that more road development would start on October 1, 2024, spanning the nation’s six geopolitical zones, to the 300 damaged roads and bridges that the current administration inherited.
