More than 20 years after the failure of the nation’s tolling policy due to corruption and inadequate road maintenance, the planned reintroduction to improve road infrastructure through sustainable financing has raised fresh fears. Stakeholders say the success of the new initiative hinges on the adoption of global best practices, which will ensure transparent implementation, public trust, and measures to mitigate economic burdens on citizens, VICTOR GBONEGUN reports.

The planned reintroduction of toll gates across major highways by the Federal Government has reignited a longstanding debate on infrastructure financing, probity and accountability, as well as public welfare.

Officially presented as a strategy for generating revenue for road maintenance and development, the policy has faced intense scrutiny over its timing, structure, and implications for everyday Nigerians.

Tolling is not new to Nigeria. The country previously operated toll gates until 2003, when then President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered their removal, citing corruption and inefficiency.

Indeed, over the years, poor road infrastructure and dwindling government revenue have pressured authorities to consider Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and user-pay models, leading to the reintroduction of tolling.

The current administration has argued that modern toll gates will be part of a more transparent and automated system that is aimed at addressing infrastructural decay, while reducing the government’s spending.

Under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), the government intends to concession select road corridors to private investors who would build, operate, and maintain toll plazas, while recouping investments through user fees.
 
The Federal Ministry of Works and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) have pitched the project as a win-win for infrastructure and investment. Proponents of tolling argue that it is a global standard for funding highway infrastructure. With Nigeria’s yearly budget constrained by debt servicing and competing demands, tolling is seen as a practical alternative to finance and maintain the country’s over 200,000 km of roads—34,000-kilometres of which are federal.

For urban centres like Lagos, where traffic congestion and road deterioration are major concerns, officials claim that tolling could help manage road usage and direct resources toward high-impact infrastructure.

However, critics are not convinced by the narrative. With Nigerians already grappling with high inflation, fuel subsidy removal, and increasing transportation costs, the tolling policy risks exacerbating public hardship. Transport unions have also warned of fare hikes, while civil society groups are questioning the transparency of the policy’s implementation.  

The unions have also threatened protests unless the government offers clarity on fare structures and exempts essential service vehicles, while civil society organisations have also questioned whether the policy is more about revenue collection than public service.

Beyond this, there is also a trust deficit, as previous tolling efforts were riddled with corruption allegations. Furthermore, there is scepticism that the new system will be managed differently, but without visible improvements in road quality, Nigerians may view tolls as yet another form of regressive taxation.

Nigeria’s economic landscape remains challenging. As of April 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics reported a yearly inflation rate of 23.71 per cent, slightly down from 24.23 per cent in March. Food inflation stood at 21.26 per cent in April, reflecting persistent pressure on household expenditures.

The International Monetary Fund projects Nigeria’s inflation to an average of 26.5 per cent this year, with a potential rise to 37 per cent next year, citing structural constraints and persistent price pressures.

The federal government recently confirmed a N1.5 trillion investment in nine major highway projects spanning over 900 kilometres to be delivered through a 25-year public-private concession agreement under the HDMI.  The government also noted that the tolling model will generate the revenue needed to recover construction costs and ensure the sustainability of the projects.

Some of the highways projected for tolling upon completion include the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road, and Makurdi-9th Mile, and others. Nine roads listed for concessions are under Phase I of the Highways Development and Management Initiative.

The policy is already being test-run with the 227-kilometre Abuja-Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Road corridor. The road, according to government sources, was rehabilitated and upgraded through a preferential credit loan of about $460.8 million from the China Exim Bank, secured through the administration of the former President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

The facility covered about 85 per cent of the project’s $542 million total cost. Part of the loan agreement was the federal government’s commitment to tolling the road, with revenue collected from toll operations prioritised for loan repayment.
 
On the route, saloon cars are charged N500 while sport utility vehicles pay N800, and mini-buses and articulated vehicles pay tolls of N1,000 and N1,600 respectively.

According to federal authorities, the project would be lenient with the disadvantaged population. Light commercial vehicles under the Federal Highways Act would enjoy a 50 per cent discount, pedal vehicles, tricycles, motorcycles, and other modes of two-or three-wheeled transport used by mainly disadvantaged populations would be offered a 100 per cent discount.
  
The Guardian learnt that in developed countries where road tolling has been tried, tested and operational as a transportation model, tolls are charged automatically and charged to the owner of the vehicle through a number plate recognition scheme.

Essentially, a camera electronically records vehicles’ number plates, calculates the toll automatically, and the amount to pay depends on how the motorist travels along the highway. A bill is, however, sent to the registered owner of the vehicle.

Additionally, some models make it possible to pay with cash or credit cards at the toll booths. In this case, a transponder allows the driver to drive straight through without stopping. Toll transponders, also known as toll tags, are wireless transmitters that are attached to vehicles or trucks.

Several firms have reportedly been awarded concessions for toll gates on various federal roads. These include Africa Plus Consortium (Benin-Asaba and Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta Roads), Avia Infrastructure Services Limited (Abuja-Lokoja Road), Enyimba Economic City Consortium (Onitsha-Owerri-Abia and Enugu-Port Harcourt Roads), AFC/Mota Engil Consortium (Shagamu-Benin and Lagos-Badagry-Seme Border Roads), China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (Keffi-Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi Road), Dafac Consortium (Kano-Shuari Road, and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd (CREEC), which is overseeing the Ondo Multi-Purpose Deep Seaport.

Phase one of the initiatives will see the operation and maintenance of 10 roads from 12 roads initially outlined, while the remaining two roads will be part of phase two of the same project.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, said recently that the tolling of federal roads will ensure sustainable financing of major roads in the country upon completion of construction and renovation. It was gathered that tolling would be strictly cashless on the roads as nobody would pay cash to ensure transparency.

Experts and some stakeholders believe that the money generated, if properly channelled, can be used to consistently maintain and improve the condition of the roads, and make them last up to the expected 50-year design lifespan.

While a past President of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, Dr Victor Oyenuga, agrees that “PPP is the best way to implement the policy with the concessionaires saddled with the task of maintaining the road and remitting certain percentages or fixed amount to the government, the Ministry of Works should have specified equipment to monitor the road, and measure the service level of the road. This will remove encumbrances like corruption that could mess up the policy. However, when a road is tolled, the government must necessarily provide an alternative road, which may be longer.

Oyenuga, a fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Highways Transport Engineers (FNIHTE), added: “If you toll the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, make sure that the Old Lagos—Ibadan Road that passes through Ikorodu—Sagamu—Ogere—Up—Alapako—New Garage is maintained, so that motorists, who are unwilling to use the expressway, use the old road. If I don’t have money to pay, I should conveniently go through the old road.”

A professor of Highways and Transportation Engineering, Olumide Ogundipe, observed that the previous decision to suspend the operation of tollgates was not well thought out because it has become obvious that the government doesn’t have the funds to put all roads in good shape despite the huge investment deployed through the yearly budget.

“If you travel around states across the country, many of the roads are in deplorable conditions. So, the best way out of the problem is PPP. It is good to bring the private sector and establishments that have the resources to invest in our roads and recoup their investments,” he said.

Ogundipe said that there must be policy stability such that subsequent governments will not disrupt the policy, adding that concession contracts must be put into place to guarantee investments.

For the sustainability of the policy, he argued that the government, or the private sector, needs to prioritise studies on the roads to know whether they are viable with particular reference to gathering data on traffic, and classes of vehicles that ply the roads.

“Agencies like the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) can help gather such data. Once the volume of traffic on the road is ascertained, then it is easy to calculate the amount to be realised if the road is tolled, and the number of years that the road will be concessioned.

“I think the absence of these critical data was part of the reasons the tolling policy failed during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. If the government controls the policy, corruption will set in. People say that the government has no business being in business, but the private sector is in business for profit and so will deploy all necessary apparatus to make profit,” he said.

To make the tolling policy more viable, he recommended the digitisation of the tolling process by introducing technology to block leakages, ensuring that people don’t pay cash for enhanced accountability and transparency.

Towards ensuring that the toll plazas are not hijacked by miscreants, he said, there must be a massive deployment of Closed-Circuit Television at strategic locations, and policemen properly mobilised on site for physical security.

Also, a highway and transportation engineer, Prof. Abdufatiah Maruana, said that while it is possible to have a tollgate without a fee charged, a fee on Nigerian toll roads will play a significant role in the road infrastructure system.  According to him, it will make the roads more efficient and provide an avenue to build more infrastructure.

Maruana urged the deployment of technology to collect the fees, while there is also an opportunity for manual payment, which must be controlled to prevent the diversion of the fees collected.

“If there are toll fees, you will discover that private cars on the highways will reduce, which will positively impact emissions in the country. It will enhance safety and support trade and tourism. I noticed that as small as Senegal is in Africa, with the introduction of toll gate fees on their roads, many people now use public transport, which reduces combustion multiplication on the road,” Maruana added.
  
A former chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Apapa Branch, Dr Garba Ombugadu, considers that some of the toll fees are arbitrary, especially considering the level of suffering among Nigerians. So, the feeling is that the masses deserve better paying to use a road. He said infrastructure development should be for the benefit of the masses, noting that most policies of the government often have a ripple effect on the citizens.

“Government is about service to the people. If major roads must be tolled, the amount charged shouldn’t be arbitrary, and the toll revenue must be used for maintenance, and not siphoned.”