Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar says the cost of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway was inflated.
Atiku, who stated this on Wednesday, also demanded that the project be subjected to an independent value-for-money audit.
According to him, payments should be suspended until Nigerians were assured that the project genuinely served the national interest.
A statement by by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said he raised when the Tinubu administration unveiled the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway project, raised the alarm that the project’s cost was inflated to an outrageous N8 billion per kilometre.
He lamented that the Minister of Works, David Umahi, at that time dismissed the claim, insisting that it would find out that the cost is N4 billion instead of the N8 billion.
According to him, the same minister has now done a volte face and admitted the actual cost is, indeed, closer to N8 billion per kilometre – precisely what he (Atiku) warned Nigerians about.
“This admission not only vindicates the former vice president’s position but also exposes the Tinubu administration’s lack of transparency in managing one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in Nigeria’s history,” the statement said.
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