Nigeria ratifies treaty on Abidjan-Lagos corridor
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on Tuesday March 14, 2017 signed the instrument of ratification of the treaty on the establishment of the Abidjan-Lagos corridor among the governments of Republic of Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.
A statement on the Facebook page of the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr. Femi Adesina on Tuesday said the President signed the document at the State House, Abuja.
The Abidjan-Lagos Corridor is a flagship project of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), which was endorsed by African Heads of States in February 2012 at the 18th African Union summit in Addis Ababa.
The PIDA is an ambitious initiative which comprised 51 priority projects estimated at nearly US $68 billion to be completed by 2040. The programme is being implemented jointly by the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD).
The Abidjan-Lagos corridor was selected, by the presidents of the five countries concerned (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria) as one of the most important projects in West Africa in terms of regional integration. To date, under the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a number of physical investments have been made in these countries. In Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, the highway linking Abidjan to Grand-Bassam was opened to traffic on September 14, 2015. The completion of the 42.7 kilometre, at a total cost of US $105 million, is the first part of the corridor connecting Abidjan and Lagos.
