NIGERIA’S Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, says the structural rehabilitation of the Third Mainland Bridge, an 11.8-kilometre span in Lagos State, will cost N3.6 trillion, which is equivalent to over $2.45 billion.
However, to build Africa’s longest bridge, known as 6th October Bridge, Egypt spent just 200 million Egyptian pounds in 1996, which was equivalent to $4.12 million at that time but $77.4 million at today’s exchange rate. Hence the Nigerian government is planning to spend 30 times the cost of 1986 Bridge on the repair of Third Mainland Bridge, which is nearly half in size of the Egypt bridge.
Umahi said after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Thursday that underwater and structural assessments of the bridge revealed severe damage caused by illegal sand mining, erosion, and corrosion to its piles and piers.
Third Mainland Bridge, Source: Google
“The rehabilitation is estimated at N3.6 trillion, while a complete rebuild would cost about ₦3.6 trillion,” the minister said. “We have approval for at least seven specialist contractors to carry out detailed investigations, designs and bids for both rehabilitation and new construction under an EPC+F [Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing] arrangement,” he said.
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“The underwater problems are compounded by decades of neglect and human activities that have undermined the bridge’s substructure,” Mr Umahi noted.
“We cannot delay. If we decide on rehabilitation, it will require huge resources and specialised engineering. If we opt for a new build, it is slightly less costly but still a massive undertaking.”
The 6th October Bridge in Egypt is a 12.7-mile or 20.5-km bridge, which is over the Nile in Cairo, Egypt. It is by far the longest in Africa, according to the WorldAtlas. The 11.8m-long Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, Nigeria, is the second longest in Africa. It was the longest bridge in Africa until 1996 when the 6th October Bridge criss-crossing Cairo was completed.
Daily Trust reported the Nigerian government allocated N7 billion for its rehabilitation betwen 2019 and 2022, and claimed it released N6.4 billion out of the approved sum.
Inflation impact
Inflation is one of the major reasons why cost of projects are on the rise in Nigeria. Since 1963 when inflation stood at 2.69 percent, it has risen to double figures over the years. It climbed to 72.84 percent in 1995 but fell to 34.6 percent in December 2024 – still considered very high.
High inflation means increased costs of construction materials and items, including manpower. Costs of construction materials such as iron and steel have jumped by over 100 percent in the last two years. A project manager of a construction company in Nigeria, Mr Jite Onokpasa, told Economy Post that projects costing N10 million in 2014 now costs 25 million or more.
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A seemingly construction professional, Mr Bayo Omoluabi, wrote on his X in April 2025 that the price of a cement bag had doubled between early 2023 and 2025.
“A ton of iron rod cost between N450,000 and N500,000 in 2022 but now sells for between N1 million and N1.1 million per ton,” he noted.
Contract costs higher in Nigeria
Though cost of project materials are now higher, Nigeria is notorious for contract inflations, according to experts. A 2020 research report by Principal Lecturer, Department of Quantity Surveying, College of Environmental Studies, Kaduna Polytechnic, Mr Gidanmana Philemon, said:
“Construction projects in Nigeria are infamous owing to the perception of costs exceeding budget and project schedules stretching beyond contract period.
“This public perception isn’t entirely unfounded considering the increasingly large number of construction projects that exceed their contract periods and contract prices. The dearth of comprehensive Nigeria-centric studies on delays and cost overruns in construction projects is a major reason for this research.”
The Guardian recently noted that “Nigeria spends an average of N3.7 billion ($2.31 million) per kilometre of road, other countries spend far less, with Kenya’s cost being between $300,000 and $1 million and South Africa’s as low as $200,000. A similar comparison done on railway contracts showed that Nigeria is far more expensive than in other African countries.”
An economist, Mr Osita Ibeneme, said lack of transparency in government circles makes Mr Umahi’s contract quotations hard to believe. “The experience of the last 26 years has shown that contracts are inflated without compunction. The costs of contracts have been unreasonably high in this administration and some of them like the Lagos-Calabar Highway were controversially awarded. So, Umahi should do better by providing specific costs of the various parts of the project. Who will be the contractor?” he asked.
