Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Nigeria’s federal government led by President Bola Tinubu has started the controversial demolition of properties situated on the Right of Way (RoW) of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. The government has also given those affected a promise of financial compensation. The Minister of Works, Engr, David Umahi inaugurated the demolition exercise on Section 1 of the highway.
Meanwhile, the astronomical cost of the contract (a no-bid, secretly transacted deal with Nigeria’s government, the Tinubu presidency and the Hitech Construction Company Limited (reportedly owned by the Chagourys who are very close friends of President Tinubu has drawn criticisms from former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Coalition of United Political Parties, CUPP; the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF and several public interest groups.
The 700 km Lagos-Calabar coastal road will be constructed for N15 trillion, and One kilometre of the road will cost N4 billion. That is, a total equivalent of $13bn at an exchange rate of N1,200 per US$1.
Atiku noted that the this initial projected cost was the equivalent of the total budget of all 36 states of the Nigerian federation: “The total budget of all 36 states of the federation for 2024 stands at about N14 trillion. If you add that of the FCT, the entire budget of all sub-nationals is N15.91 trillion. This is scandalous. Worse still, they have already awarded the contract but are still not sure of the level of the counterpart funding component of the federal government!”
“Umahi had said in September 2023 that Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech had the money to construct the highway and that it would be PPP. Hitech was to build, operate, and transfer it back to the Nigerian government after years of tolling.
