N’Delta stakeholders seek suspension of N1.8tn Lagos-Calabar coastal road project

Stakeholders in the Niger Delta, under the aegis of Niger Delta Youths Coalition for Peace and Progress (NDYCPP), have urged the Federal Government to immediately suspend N1.8 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, warning that proceeding with the project would amount to duplication of efforts and financial waste.

National President of NDYCPP, Jude Teidor, and the National Secretary, George Okitikpi, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said that the road project, spanning over 750 kilometres and featuring 160 bridges connecting the entire region with Ibeju Lekki in Lagos State, was originally conceived by the Federal Government, with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) entrusted to oversee its development.

Teidor revealed that the NDDC has invested over N25 billion since 2014 in feasibility studies, project scope assessments and detailed technical studies.

The coalition argued that the Federal Ministry of Works, under the leadership of David Umahi, was pursuing negotiations for new construction contracts on the East-West Coastal Road without involving the NDDC. This raised suspicions of a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement that would toll the road for years, potentially rendering previous NDDC efforts useless.