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Abuja, FCT – By Prime Brief Media

The World Bank, in partnership with the French Development Agency, has unveiled a $575 million programme targeting the construction and rehabilitation of 4,000 kilometres of rural roads in Nigeria, with the goal of connecting isolated farming communities to urban markets and stimulating agricultural productivity.

The programme, named the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project-Scale Up (RAAMP-SU), was approved by the World Bank Board earlier this year and is set to commence implementation across 19 states in the third quarter of 2026, subject to the completion of procurement and governance frameworks.

A statement from the World Bank Country Office in Abuja said the project is “directly aligned with Nigeria's food security and poverty reduction goals,” noting that poor transport infrastructure remains one of the most significant barriers to commercial agriculture. According to the Bank, up to 40 percent of food produced in Nigeria is lost due to post-harvest handling challenges, much of it attributable to the inability to evacuate produce from farms.

“RAAMP-SU is designed to ensure that farmers, especially women and smallholders, can get their products to market efficiently. We are investing not just in roads but in an entire ecosystem that includes market infrastructure, logistics hubs, and maintenance systems that will outlive the project,” said the World Bank's Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri.

The programme requires participating states to meet specific reform milestones, including the establishment of state road funds and rural road maintenance agencies. It also includes a strong anti-corruption component, mandating open contracting and citizen monitoring of road projects.

Analysts have welcomed the initiative but caution that sustainability depends on state governments' commitment to maintenance, a perennial challenge in Nigeria's federal system. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said it would convene a national coordination meeting with the beneficiary states in June to finalize rollout plans.

Prime Brief Media will report on further economic indicators and official responses as they become available.

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