The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said President Bola Tinubu has given the green light to commence the design of the 1000-kilometre Sokoto-Badagry Coastal Highway.

He disclosed this after inspecting the end of Section One, Phase One, of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and its realignment in Lagos on Sunday.

He said the coastal road would connect the South-West, South-South, North-East, North-West and North-Central regions of Nigeria when completed.

Umahi said: “I’m happy that Mr President has also directed me to start the immediate design of the Sokoto-Badagry Coastal Highway.

“This one is a spur of the Coastal highway, and that one is 1000 kilometres.

“We’ve started the design and I’m very sure that as soon as Federal Executive Council approves it, we will be starting at Sokoto side, which is the zero point.

“We also have another spur which is going to go from Enugu -Abakaliki-Ogoja going to Cameroon.

“So we have that spur and it’s about 361 kilometres, going through Otukpo to Benue to Nasarawa and ends up at Apo in Abuja.

“We are also going to be presenting it to Mr President, and when this is done, then the coastal routes like we promised will go to circle the entire country.”