(Keke Napep) are commonplace in many northern cities of Nigeria. Nigeria's roads and highways form the backbone of the country's transport network, as these arteries handle 90% of all passenger and freight traffic, according to the NIIMP. As it is the largest segment – contributing N2.4trn ($6.4bn) to GDP in 2020, down from N2.7trn ($7.2bn) the year before – the government is focused on both servicing existing roads – many of which are in poor condition or unpaved – and constructing new ones. Towards this end, the 2021 budget earmarked N168bn ($451.2m) for the construction, rehabilitation and dualisation of roads. The package also set aside N54bn ($144.2m) for building and renovating bridges, and N4bn ($10.7m) specifically for the rehabilitation of a mainland bridge in Lagos.
International highways Nigeria's strategic location and size results in four routes of the
Trans-African Highway network using its national road system: • The
Trans-Sahara Highway to
Algeria is almost complete but border security issues may hamper its use in the short term. • The
Trans-Sahelian Highway to
Dakar is substantially complete. • The
Trans–West African Coastal Highway starts in
Nigeria, connecting it westwards to
Benin,
Togo,
Ghana and
Ivory Coast with feeder highways to landlocked
Burkina Faso and
Mali. When construction in
Liberia and
Sierra Leone is finished, the highway will continue seven other
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nations further west. • The
Lagos-Mombasa Highway has been awaited for many decades to kick-start trade across the continent. It does provide improved highway links to neighbouring
Cameroon, but its continuation across
DR Congo to
East Africa is lacking, as are highways from Cameroon to
Central Africa and
Southern Africa, which could boost trade within the continent. == Waterways ==