Nigeria has approved the construction of three roads in Oyo, Niger and Kano. Credit: Taber Andrew Bain.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Nigeria has awarded two contracts for the construction of three roads in the states of Oyo, Niger and Kano.

The total expenditure for the construction is estimated at N19.352bn ($53.2m).

The Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola stated that the three roads include the Igbo Oloko Agbole road in Oyo, the road connecting Gulu town to Yaba town between Federal Capital Territory and Niger, and the road connecting Sharada to Madobi and Dambori in Kano.

The Oyo road project has been allocated N7.24bn ($19.9m), the Niger road project has been allocated N7.59bn ($20.8m) and the Kano project N4.51bn ($12.3m).

In addition, a revised rate of N523.82m ($1.44m) has been approved for completing the construction on the Efon-Elaaye-Erimo-Iwaraja road that connects Ekiti and Osun.

Fashola said: “That road was awarded in 2009. The contractor had achieved about 5% of the works, so we are trying to complete that road.

“It has been slowed down by previous years of insufficient budget and during that period, the price at which it was awarded and today’s material prices have altered significantly: cement, iron rod, labour, diesel, petrol and all of that.”

There are currently 524 road projects are under construction in Nigeria.

In February, the government started rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion work on the Agbara-Seme Border section of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.

The plan involves the construction of an extra lane on both carriageways running between Agbara and Badagry.

In the same month, the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed an agreement with the Economic Community of West African States Commission (ECOWAS) to undertake a study on the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor highway.