Atiku queries delay in announcing cost of coastal road

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has said the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, should not wait till Friday before disclosing the cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project.

On Monday, Atiku had faulted the President Bola Tinubu-led administration for awarding the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited “without any evidence of competitive bidding or a decision by the Federal Executive Council (FEC)”.

Atiku claimed that the award was cloaked in mystery because Umahi declined to reveal the contractual amount involved. He also asked why the Tinubu administration released N1.06 trillion for the pilot phase of the project, which begins at Eko Atlantic and is expected to terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, a distance of 47.47km.

Reacting, Umahi, in a statement issued through his Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna, promised that the total cost and breakdown of the project would be made available to the public on Friday in Lagos.

But speaking through his Special Assistant on Media, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku questioned why Umahi should wait for that long to disclose the cost of the project.

Posting on X, Shaibu wrote: “Why on earth does David Umahi need this number of days to cough up the price tag for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project?

“Oh, right, just to make sure those figures are nicely seasoned with shaki, ponmo and other orishirishi before serving them up.

“I mean, seriously, a minute should suffice to fish out the cost from that so-called ‘PPP’ pact with Hitech. But hey, who’s counting, right? Certainly not Umahi! …@aonanuga1956, I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.”­