Lagos-Badagry road: N15bn NNPC’s tax credit to the rescue

When the contract for the Lagos-Badagry road reconstruction was awarded in 2018,  people expected to see the road completed within two to three years to end their harrowing experiences on the route.

But this did not materialise due to funding constraints.

Its actual construction began in earnest between 2020 and 2021 after the SUKUK funding came in.

Subsequently the NNPC Tax Credit Scheme came in December 2021.

Attesting to the efficiency of the new initiative of the Federal Government, Director of Federal Highways in South West, Mr Adedamola Kuti, said the N15 billion NNPC Tax Credit funding had been speeding up construction works on the Badagry expressway project.

Kuti said this during inspection of the section III of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway project, which spans from Agbara to Seme Border, being supervised by the Federal Ministry of Works.

He said about 17 kilometers had been completed on various stretches on the Badagry bound lane, while measures were on to further speed up the pace of construction works.

Between December 2021 and March 2022, he explained that the project has been placed under the Tax Credit initiative of the Federal Government that is being sponsored and being financed by the NNPC.

He observed that the NNPC funds have brought in a lot of relief to the project. “We have been able to pay some of the outstanding bills for certified works that have been done. So our certificate number four and five have been paid up by NNPC.

“That is why you are seeing this tremendous progress that is ongoing on this road. NNPC funding for this job is just about N15 billion but we have been assured that the government will not stop funding,” he said.

Kuti said that the project was about 25 per cent completed and expressed hope that government continued funding would get the project to about 80 per cent completion within a year.

“We are here to see the progress that has been made so far on this road. This road is very sensitive to the Federal Government.

The Federal Director of Works disclosed that out of the 21 critical roads under NNPC funding, two are in the South West, adding that Lagos-Badagry Expressway happens to be one.

Kuti explained that from Agbara to Badagry is about 46 kilometers, adding that the road had reached final layers on several portions including the Ibereko community axis.

He said that the progress of work had reduced travel time and impacted Lagos residents plying the highway positively while improving commerce on the axis.

Kuti said more than 300 trucks of cement, over 30,000 trucks of aggregates and over 131 trucks of diesel had been used on the project which had employed over 500 people on the construction site.

Lawmaker representing Badagry in the House of Representatives, Mr Babatunde Hunpe, urged the Federal Government to continue funding the project so that the work would finish on time.

According to the lawmaker, there have been tremendous changes on the pace of work on the road in the last few months.

He said, “I am sure that if this continues the way it is going, by December this year, the residents and the people passing through the expressway will have cause to smile and thank the government more.”

He appealed to the residents to cooperate with the construction workers so that the project could continue without any issues.

Also speaking, Oba Israel Okoya, the Onibereko of Ibereko land, implored the government to continue the good work so that by next year the project could be completed.