By: Tijani Salako.
The Federal Government spent N6.47 trillion on strategic infrastructure development between June 2023 and December 2025, with major highway projects accounting for the largest share of the expenditure.
An analysis of the Federal Government’s Nigeria Reform Scorecard, titled The Benefits, Costs and Harm Prevented, showed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway received the highest allocation at N2.23 trillion, representing about 34 per cent of the total infrastructure spending during the 30 months.
The Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway followed with N1.11 trillion, while N489.3 billion was disbursed for the Trans-Sahara Superhighway. Together, the three highway projects accounted for about N3.83 trillion, or nearly 60 per cent of the N6.47 trillion spent on strategic infrastructure.
The scorecard details how the Federal Government deployed additional fiscal resources generated through its economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market.
According to the report, total incremental government expenditure during the period stood at N30.64 trillion, with infrastructure emerging as one of the largest spending components.
Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the reforms mobilised N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
He explained that the gains from subsidy removal did not appear as a separate line item but were reflected in higher government revenues, particularly from Customs duties and petroleum-related taxes following the exchange rate reforms.
Beyond the legacy highway projects, the government spent N366 billion on emergency road intervention projects, N304.2 billion on the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Road (Section II), N291.3 billion on the Lekki Deep Sea Port Access Road, and N228.4 billion on the Ilesha-Akure-Benin Road.
The scorecard also listed N250 billion for the Renewed Hope Smallholder Support Programme, N124.7 billion for the construction of 1,550 housing units for Armed Forces personnel, and N109.9 billion for Operation Lake Sanity, the multinational security operation.
The Ministry of Finance said the infrastructure investments were designed to remove long-standing constraints to investment, improve productivity and stimulate economic growth through enhanced fiscal capacity.
The infrastructure spending formed part of the broader N30.64 trillion increase in Federal Government expenditure during the review period.
Outside infrastructure, wage adjustments accounted for the largest share of spending at N9.39 trillion, while the foreign exchange impact on external debt servicing stood at N9.37 trillion. The report also recorded N1.24 trillion as the impact of monetary policy on domestic debt servicing.
Other expenditures included N424 billion for social welfare transfers, N419 billion for FCT, Ecological Fund and natural resource interventions, and N201 billion for the higher naira cost of foreign obligations.
The scorecard further revealed N11.85 trillion in incremental borrowing over the 30-month period, underscoring the fiscal pressure on the Federal Government despite the additional revenues generated by the reforms.
