Much Ado About Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway Project
• Ex- VP Alleges Questionable Dealings In Contract Award • ‘ It’s N4b Per Km, Not N8b Claimed By Atiku – Umahi • ‘ Face- Off Not About North Versus South But Transparency’ • Project Benefits Would Transcend Current Politics, Says Dawn
THE occasional rivalry between the northern and southern parts of the country over issues may have subtly cropped up over the Federal Government’sconstruction of the 700km Lagos- Calabar coastal highwaythat has begun from the Lagos end of the project. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, in his criticism of the coastal road recently, alleged the National Assembly didn’t clear the project and that President Bola Tinubu put personal business interests before national infrastructure. He also accused the government of engagingin questionable dealings in the highway construction.
The coastal road, when completed, will be an international highway that will connect Nigeria through Calabar to Cameron and other parts of Africa.
Although some people have dismissed the disposition of Atiku toward the project as neither representing the mind of the entire North nor indicating that a particular ethnic group is against infrastructural projects in the South, there are those who believethat the manner in which the former vice presidentvilifiedtinubu over the project suggests that there is something deeper in his mind than the personal grouses he expressed, which include the cost of construction.
Some observers noted that some sections of the country arealways agitated whenever there is an ongoing mega project in the South. They would always want a project of the same magnitude sited or executed in their region. They cited an example of when the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagoswas undergoing rehabilitation andthe North insisted that a similar rehabilitation work be done in the Aminu Kano Airport, which resulted in the elevation of the Kano airport to an international status. Theyare of the view thatthe Lagos- Calabar roadis being politicised because the North believesthere is no commensurate infrastructural project in their area and so are being cheated, even asthe Abuja- Kano and the Katsina- Kano roadconstructions are ongoing.
According to them, a scrutiny of the people criticizing Tinubu over the coastal highway project revealed that they are mostly core friends of the former vice president, and mainly Fulani. There is also the observation that a section of the North is always apprehensive to see other parts of the country developing faster than them. The politics, according to analysts, is to keep the South at the same level with the North.
Another reason given for thecriticism is that appointments made from the northern part of the country by
President Tinubu do not please those
described as core Fulani who see the minorities in their region as being e m p o w e r e d through the president’s appointments. It was learnt thatthe Kanuri and Hausa might not complain against Tinubu and his policies b e c a u s e they are n o w recognised and better represented in the government, unlike before when a section of their regionmade itself lord over others.
Since Tinubu was sworn in as President on May 29, 2023 after which the struggle for the leadership of the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, started, the North has taken interest in producing the President of the Senate, a position which Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of Akwa Ibom State, eventually won with the support of the presidency. Prior to the National Assembly’s leadership election, some stakeholders in the North had impressed it on President Tinubu toconcede the leadership of the Senate to the North West as compensation for their support for him both in the presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and the February 25, 2023 presidential election.
When it dawned on the North that the Senate president’s slot slipped, other moves were made to ensure that the administration of President Tinubu is placed under check, hence the launching of the Northern Senators Forum in December last year followed by a plot to impeach Akpabio. The orchestration was after the outburst of Senator Abdul Ningi, who represents Bauchi State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) about alleged budget padding.
Ningi had claimed that the 2024 budget was ‘ padded’ by the senators to the tune of N3.7 trillion. The alarm triggered a reaction from Senator Opeyemi Bamidele from Ekiti State who alleged that Ningi’s outburst had ethnic undertone and that it was unfounded. Although the Senate later suspended Ningi, the sanction did not stop the move by his ( Ningi) loyalists in the Upper Chamber to impeach Akpabio, a plot that was swiftly checkmated. Those in the plot were allegedly PDP members who were also believed to be allies of Atiku.
Earlier, some northerners had complained that the 2024 budget was skewed against the North. It was learnt that if the cabal could get control of the Senate, Tinubu would find it difficult to get his policies cleared and approved in the chamber.
Atiku alleged that the road project awarded to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited ( Hitech) was devoid of any documented competitive bidding process or decision by the Federal Executive Council( FEC). He accused the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, of not revealing how much the project would cost. He said the minister only explained the project would run through nine states ates and would have a railroad running through hrough the middle.
Atiku quotedthe dthe works minister as saying ng the project would come me at zero cost to Nigeria, w h i c h , according ccording to him, is currently urrently facing cing an a l l - time t i m e high gh level of debt.
He saidthe p r o j e c t being executed on the basis of “build, operate, and transfer” indicated that Hitech would do the construction, operate it for a certain period, recoup its investment through tollgates, and subsequently return it to the Nigerian government. The former vice presidentinsisted that the project did not go through approval from the National Assembly, which holds the power of appropriation, but only went through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission with no record of a competitive bidding since Chagoury’s firm is to fund the job 100 percent.
According to Atiku, Umahi returned to FEC with a memo in March 2024 seeking the approval of N1.06tn that would be paid to the Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project, which is wholly in Lagos. “This pilot phase was to begin from the edge of Chagoury’s Eko Atlantic City on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, and terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Ibeju- Lekki, a distance of 47.47km. Till date, the Tinubu administration has refused to reveal how much the project will cost in total,” he said.
To him,“if 47.47km costs about N1.06tn, it means each kilometer is being built at N22.5billion or $ 18million. For a project that is going to be 700km, it means the total cost could be N15.7trillion or $ 12.56billion, which is higher than previous estimates.”
Atiku warned that the renewed hope infrastructure fund under Tinubu’s discretion, might serve as another avenue for diverting public funds through dubious projects.“More curious is the fact that the entire pilot phase of this project begins and ends in Lagos, especially within the axis of Bola Tinubu’s business interests. It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners.”
He alleged that the same Hitech, owned by Chagoury, was unable to complete the 50km LekkiEpe Expressway. Despite installing two toll gates along the axis, Hitech which was part of the Lekki Concession Company consortium was only able to construct about 20km, forcing the Lagos State government to buy it back at the cost of N7.5billion ($ 50 million at the time) in 2013, which came at a loss to the people of
Lagos, among others.
Umahi, in a counter- statement, said the government was constructing the Lagos- Calabar coastal highway at a total cost of N4billion per kilometre and not N8billion per km reportedly claimed by Atiku.
The minister also dismissed claims that the project didn’t follow the due procurement process, stating that the contract was awarded on a counter- funding basis and not on a Public- Private Partnership as widely claimed. Reacting to the claim of ethnic undertone in the comments on the project, a member of the Igbo socio- cultural group, Ohanaeze, Goddy Uwazurike, said he did not agree with the sentiment that the job is creating division between the North and South, or that Atiku’s position on the highway represents the position of the North. To Uwazurike, the allegation ofsecrecy surrounding the process and implementation of the project, andthe reservations expressed aboutchagouris are the bone of contention.
“What Atiku raised was not about the North versus South or that a section of the country does not like the project. The crisis of transparency of the project, which the administration didn’t respect or adhere to, is what Atiku pointed out. I commended President Tinubu for having the guts to start the project, which would benefit the whole of Nigeria and Nigerians, but Mr. Tinubu should have also laid emphasis on transparency of the cost, otherwise, no matter how well intentioned the project is, the fact that the cost and bidding were shrouded in secrecy would definitely affect its integrity, which is what is ongoing,” he said.
The Director General, Development Agenda for Western Nigeria ( DAWN) Commission, Seye Oyeleye, said what coloured Atiku’s observation was the simultaneous outburst of the Northern Elders Forum, which said the region regretted voting for Tinubu. He said those condemning the project were merely doing so out of their personal hatred for President Tinubu and not for economic development.
Oyeleye, who claimed to have personally visited the construction site, said he wondered why any rational human being would condemn a road project that traverses 25 percent of Nigeria and will cover nine states out of 36. He said as part of the benefits of the project, it wouldtrigger the economy of southern states, particularly Lagos, by within 25 and 50 percent just as it would diversify the economy of all the hinterlands along the corridor.
“What better way to create an access road that will link the commercial capital, Lagos with the internal states like Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Rivers as an example? On that belt alone, there is the Ondo Deep Seaport, Lekki Seaport, Lekki Free Trade Zone andthe Dangote Refinery, among others.”