Saturday Southerner
Another View

The news of the diversion of the Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway through Lagos – Ogun to now connect Edo and East-West road remains a shock to many Nigerians.

This is a pointer to the fact that, the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu never intended building any Coastal Highway from the beginning but ‘arrangee’, a prepared stunt to scam Nigerians of trillions of naira.

The Presidency needs to explain to Nigerians why the sudden summersault of the project plan from coastal to inland when about #15 trillion was already captured in the 2026 budget specifically for the project.

The Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway is a multi trillion naira road project that was conceived by Mr. President, awarded to his friend and business partner, Chagoury, passed on to the self- acclaimed ‘Professor of Practice’, Minister of Works, Dave Umahi.

When the road was initially commenced they boasted in defence of the project, about how it was one of the best things that would happen to Nigerians under President Tinubu’a leadership after completion but alas, ‘breeze don blow, fowl nyash don open.’

Obviously, there was no Environmental Assessment Impact conducted before the beginning of the construction of the project. Many Nigerians had raised this issue with Dave Umahi, the Works Minister. Rufai Oseni of Arise News also raised the red flag but the Minister kept stone-walling. This is enough proof that, from inception this project was a scam waiting to happen to Nigerians. Now it has.

The President awarded the project to his long time business partner, Mr. Chagoury on a platter of gold. The same Mr. Chagoury that has questions to answer bordering on corrupt practices in the US and Nigeria.

This multi trillion naira project was awarded to Mr. Chagoury with no tender, no bidding, no costing, there was no survey, and not an EIA was conducted.

The project had not gone beyond Ogun when they discovered there were Telecom lines on that route that could not allow for progress of the construction. They were still in Ogun when they realized how parts of South-South states captured in the route are swampy in nature hence are unfriendly to a Coastal Highway project.

The project from inception was a scam and the so-called re-routing confirms earlier held views by many Nigerians that, the Presidency and Dave Umahi were up to some games.

Many Nigerians shouted and complained about this Coastal Highway as unnecessary and was a misplaced priority for the country.
Now, the coastal highway rather than continuing along the coastal line has now been re-routed to pass through Lagos – Ogun – Edo joining the broken and abandoned East-West road.

Nigeria has several broken roads that needed urgent attention; Lokoja – Benin road, Gombe – Bauchi, Enugu – Onitsha, Lagos – Ore – Benin, Port-Harcourt – Enugu, East-West, Owerri – Onitsha, Nsukka – Oturkpa – Abuja, etc. Rather than approach such roads for rehabilitation, they were left to further decay and endanger millions of lives daily.

Several trillions were earmarked for a Coastal Highway that, the entire country knew wasn’t going to be concluded. But the Federal Government of Nigeria is not bothered. After all, the money for the project will not bei accounted for.

The President and his party, the All Peoples’ Congress, APC, friends and supporters yesterday gathered on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, in Abuja to inaugurate his Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 general elections, that is of utmost importance to them.

The Federal Minister that claimed to be a ‘Professor of Practice’ in the field of engineering failed woefully to present a good defence of the project when he faced the cameras.

Dave Umahi abused, cursed and humiliated anyone who raised objections concerning the coastal highway. He called them illiterates and not knowledgeable on matters of engineering.

Yet, a so-called engineer forgot to embark on a preliminary assessment of the highway, a feasibility study to understand the topography of the environment and how to navigate it.

The original intention of Mr. President has been achieved. That is hurriedly completing the Lagos and Ogun part of the falsely intended highway and commission it. The other parts such as, the Ondo and South-South that were used to justify the trillions earmarked for the project has been erased from the map. That’s the way of this administration.

From day one of President Tinubu, he has introduced policies he couldn’t run through to a reasonable conclusion. For instance, he removed subsidy without any plans on how to manage the aftermath effect. Now he is almost reversing it. He permitted the naira to float without any stabilizer. He re-introduced the old national anthem, that people are still wondering of what benefit?

The excuses provided by Dave Umahi for the abandonment of the coastal highway are not enough, as experience has proven that in modern engineering difficult terrain is no reason to abandon construction but a challenge.

Many Nigerians lost their multi-million naira property along that corridor to make way for the abandoned so-called coastal highway project without compensation. Has this government been fair to these group of Nigerians?

Why do Nigerian leaders treat fellow citizens with so much contempt? Why do our leaders not take the citizens concern seriously? Since they believed that construction of the coastal highway was to promote Nigeria’s economic advancement along that corridor, there is no convincing reason to re-route it.

How can a coastal highway project be re-routed into the inland roads with modern engineering technology? Dave Umahi, this is not a wonderful decision but a shameful action.

Other West African countries, Ghana, Togo, Republic of Benin began and completed their coastal highwaysn. They did not re-route theirs. President Tinubu and Engineer Umahi, why? Haven’t patriotic Nigerians who were complaining about the coastal highway arrangement been proven right? Why must this current government act in ways that make many Nigerians to suspect it? Must governance be turned to a scam?