The meeting which was held in Lagos, was chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, discussed the project which is expected to cost 15 billion dollars and deepen regional economic integration.

The project is currently at its study phase, an indication that detailed research, planning, and design are still ongoing.

Highlighting the history and progress of the Lagos-Abidjan highway development project, Umahi mentioned that the project, initiated in 2013, had received significant funding support from the African Development Bank.

He noted that the current meeting aimed to finalise and approve the design of the project, as it was nearing a crucial stage where concrete steps towards implementation could be taken.

He noted that the heads of member states of ECOWAS have met to agree on the project and that various stages of development, including design, environmental impact assessment, and funding mechanisms, had been ongoing for the past 11 years.

“The design of the project, ESIA design, conceptualisation, funding mechanisms have been on in the past 11 years.

“As of today, we are going to listen to the committee of experts in terms of the design and so we believe that we will finalise and approve the design today, and then we set the goal for procurement, probably in our next meeting,’’ he said.

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On his part, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Ghana, Mr Francis Boakye, emphasised the importance of infrastructure, particularly roads, in driving socio-economic development.

He highlighted how highways could facilitate trade, tourism, and economic activities, and cited the example of the United States’ economic boom as evidence of the correlation.

Boakye emphasised the significance of the Lagos-Abidjan highway project in promoting economic integration within West Africa.

He also noted that the depth of Ghana’s involvement in the project demonstrated its commitment to regional economic integration.

Dr Amede Kouakou, Minister of Equipment and Road Maintenance of Cote d’Ivoire, said he, along with the other ministers involved in the Lagos-Abidjan highway development project, were committed to making accelerated progress with the project.

He specifically spoke of his intention to take deliberate steps to ensure that the project became a reality for the citizens of Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

The Lagos-Abidjan Corridor Highway, scheduled to begin in 2025, is part of the greater Dakar-Lagos Corridor and one of the flagship priority development programmes of ECOWAS.

The about 1068 kilometres project will cover five ECOWAS member countries, namely, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria, and will traverse eight border towns (four country-pair land borders) beginning from Eric Moore and ending in Abidjan.

The project is financed by the African Development Bank.

Source: NAN

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Maida, who spoke when he received a delegation of Meta, led by the company’s Vice President for Africa, the Middle-East and Turkey, Kojo Boakye, when they visited NCC’s headquarters in Abuja, said the regulatory support to all investors, including operators in Nigeria, would be predicated on their playing by the rules and regulations guiding the sector.

He said the commission placed a lot of premium on compliance to industry laws, regulations and guidelines as such would also engender a level-playing field for all licensees and other stakeholders in the industry for sustaining a healthy competition and guaranteeing a sustainable growth in the Nigerian telecoms sector.

Boakye informed NCC boss that the purpose of the visit was to congratulate the EVC on his appointment by the president and to intimate him of ongoing efforts to land 2Africa Cable in Nigeria.

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At 45,000 kilometres long, Boakye said the 2Africa submarine cable would be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects and would interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), Asia (via Saudi Arabia), and Africa.

He said the system would go live in 2023, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 terabytes per second (Tbps).

Boakye stated that 2Africa will deliver much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and underpin further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for billions of people, especially in Nigeria.

He solicited NCC’s support in sailing through all necessary legal and regulatory hurdles in landing the submarine cable to complement existing backbone infrastructure in Nigeria.

He also said Meta, through a consortium, planned to land 2Africa cable simultaneously in Lagos and Akwa-Ibom states “in order to ensure those not yet connected are connected while those already connected are given opportunity for enhanced and affordable access.”

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