FG Denies Asking Obasanjo Not To Use Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

The Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, has denied reports that he said former President Olusegun Obasanjo should not use the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway once completed.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the project in Lagos on Saturday, Umahi clarified his comments, stating that he never barred Obasanjo from using the road.

He said: “The point is that the former president is not only my former president, he is also my father and my in-law; so, I have my respect for him. I never said the former president should not use the road.

“He is not the only one among the few criticising the road project. I said, ‘If you say the road is not good, you have a choice to use it or not to use it.’ That is what I said. I didn’t say the former president should not use the road.”

Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Not a Wasteful Project

Umahi defended the 700km road project, describing it as a vital investment that will bring huge socio-economic benefits rather than a wasteful expenditure.

The Minister said: “If you say the project is wasteful, it is an ambiguous statement.
Is it wasteful in the sense that it shouldn’t have been?

“Is it wasteful in the sense that we are going to be earning carbon credit from the concrete pavement and solar light?
Is it wasteful in the sense that along this corridor, we are going to have windmill energy connecting all the communities?
Is it wasteful that it runs from Lagos to Calabar?”

The minister also pointed out that the Sokoto-Badagry Highway project (1,068km) and the Akwanga-Jos-Bauchi-Gombe Road project (462km) are also being executed by the Federal Government, questioning why critics have singled out the Lagos-Calabar project.

“Why then single out this one to say that it is wasteful?” he questioned.

Umahi explained that the highway would reduce travel time from Lagos to Calabar to just five hours, making it an important evacuation corridor for industries and refineries.

He said: “It is an evacuation corridor; so, the amount that the Federal Government spends in transhipment will be saved.”

He also stated that section one of the highway would be completed within the next six months.

Responding to concerns that the project might be linked to corruption, Umahi dismissed such claims and recalled that Obasanjo had previously praised his leadership transparency when he was Governor of Ebonyi State.

He said: “He is my father. If a father suddenly says that his son is corrupt, it is up to the son to say he is not corrupt.”

Umahi reiterated that the project is transparent, necessary, and economically beneficial, urging Nigerians to support it instead of questioning its viability.