A whooping 15Trillion NGN in a country like Nigeria!

• When the Highway of Fraud finally blows open, mark this words, Dave Umahi will be the fall guy, just like Godwin Emefiele is the fall guy for Buhari and his vseless looters!

• Contract Bidding procedure was not followed.

• Conflict of interest as his son bros Seyi is a partner to the Lebanese cartel that runs HITECH Ltd.

• Why is Asiwaju in a hurry while other more important, roads like East-West, Auchi-okene -Abuja, Enugu-markudi, Benin-Auchi, Lagos-Ibadan etc is there and on the last State of ruin?

PREMIUM TIMES believes that at a time in which the economy is bleeding profusely, there must be better areas to plough our little resources into.

Construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has begun amid a myriad of fiscal and due process concerns. But indifference is the response of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to the challenges. The 700-kilometre stretch of road infrastructure, which will span eight years to complete, will gulp a staggering N15 trillion.

This figure is tentative, given the country’s inflationary spiral. The project might well have significant economic benefits for the country but there are real questions involved, especially as regime spokespersons have repeatedly reiterated the fact that our economy is bankrupt, of which there is no question.


The pilot phase of the construction has started at the Eko Atlantic City and it will terminate at Lekki Deep Seaport, for which N1.06 trillion has already been released. It is a highway of 10 lanes, which will cost N4 billion per kilometre, and would be the first of its kind in Africa, says the Minister of Works, David Umahi. His zealousness in its implementation brooks no dissent, and sometimes it gets spiteful. The first set of victims, whose properties were demolished to pave the way for the construction, were paid N2.75 billion in compensation last week.

There are similar road networks in the offing, in the Sokoto-Badagry Coastal Highway and the Enugu-Abakaliki-Ogoja-Cameroon Highway, in what seems like a geo-political balancing act. As a spur, the latter will course through Oturkpo in Benue State, to Nasarawa State and end at Apo, in Abuja. On the second project, Mr Umahi said, “We have started the design and I’m sure that as soon as the Federal Executive Council approves it, we will be starting at the Sokoto side.” Given its 1,000-kilometre length, it will surely gulp over N20 trillion.

The political ecosystem is already astir on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, with the circumstances surrounding its award. Adherence to due process has been raised by some critics, causing waffling in official quarters. The point has to be made: the project did not go through a competitive bidding process, which is imperative for such a huge venture, in line with the 2007 Public Procurement Act, as enunciated in Section 16 (1) (1) and (d), to create transparency, accountability and value for money.

As the minister admitted, the award sidestepped the public tender competitive bidding process. This raises the question of how the cost was arrived at.

-Was it a favour to a friend of the administration?

-Or is the government bidding farewell to the transparency and accountability of public tender and the competitive bidding process?

-In addition, why was the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) phase of the project not done before work began?

We know this through a letter dated 18th April that emanated from the Ministry of Works, soliciting residents living in the Section 1 and 11 areas of the highway in Lagos, to attend a workshop organised for a scoping study that will generate this all-important data, after the project implementation had commenced.

This action, the letter reads in part, will “ensure that the project is developed in a responsible and sustainable manner, in line with regulations in Nigeria as well as international standards and frameworks.” No, this is sophistry! The country’s statute and global best practices do not uphold putting the cart before the horse in the award of a contract, as the ministry’s letter exemplifies. The ESIA precedes any contract.


single world-class healthcare facility in Nigeria. Our teaching hospitals are relics of the last century; while our universities remain underfunded, denied of the N220 billion annual revitalisation funds in demand since 2009, to make them functional and ideal citadels of research and innovation.

Nigerians are presently being ravaged by fuel scarcity as the federal government is unable to pay oil marketers the N200 billion outstanding bridging claims owed them. Our seaports cannot compete with the best in Africa, which before now led to the loss of $7 billion annually to Cotonou and Ghana seaports, while the international airports are a laughing stock in comparison with their peers offshore.

Nigeria’s crude oil production has fallen to 1.23 million barrels per day, according to OPEC records in March. We urgently require strategic thinking on how to improve public finances. Nigeria’s revenue has plummeted, creating a foreign exchange shortfall with its crippling effect on the naira.

PREMIUM TIMES believes that at a time in which the economy is bleeding profusely, there must be better areas to plough our little resources into, not coastal roads. In fact, the over N77 trillion debt and 96 per cent of total revenue to service it, alongside the criminal negligence of our roads, are sufficient red flags against this super highway now.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/691629-editorial-a-coastal-highway-of-misplaced-priority-and-due-process-abuse.html[sup][/sup]

This is nothing but a fraudulent highway from Bourdillon to Lebanon

Our leaders have no foresight

I think it's high time Nigerians braze up and fight these shameless, self serving looters in all shades. See how he quickly elevated his son to the cartel and paid out more than 1 Trillion Naira upfront! While people are shouting Ebi pa won everywhere!

Bobloco:
This is nothing but a fraudulent highway from Bourdillon to Lebanon

They do, but only when looting or bypassing the very law designed exclusively to guide against fraud!

Do you tell me Asiwaju has no foresight but he knows how to add bros Seyi as partner to the Lebanese cartel HITECH!

Beautifulday:
Our leaders have no foresight

BigkokoRep:
They do, but only when looting or bypassing the very law designed exclusively to guide against fraud!

Do you tell me Asiwaju has no foresight but he knows how to add bros Seyi as partner to the Lebanese cartel HITECH!

Wahala