Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has taken a swipe at Works Minister David Umahi for dodging questions about how much the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway actually costs.
In a video that’s been making the rounds online from an event on Friday, Makinde, himself an electrical engineer, said there’s no reason Umahi should be “dancing around the cost” of a project approved by President Bola Tinubu.
His comments followed a tense on-air clash earlier this week between Umahi and ARISE News journalist Rufai Oseni, where the minister visibly lost his cool when pressed about the 700-kilometre project’s price tag.
During the interview, Oseni asked Umahi a straightforward question: how much does each kilometre of the highway cost? Instead of answering,
Umahi dismissed it as an “elementary” question and suggested the journalist didn’t have the technical know-how to understand.
“These are elementary questions,” Umahi said. “The money is meant for the project and will be paid according to the work done.
How can you be asking for cost per kilometre? The prices are different, the next kilometre is different from the next kilometre.”
Calling himself a “professor” of practice in engineering, Umahi told Oseni to “keep quiet” and “stop saying what you don’t know.”
Oseni shot back: “Minister, it’s alright. Keep dignifying yourself, and let the world know who you truly are.”
Supporting Oseni’s line of questioning, Makinde said Umahi’s refusal to give clear answers only raises more suspicions about the project.
“They asked a minister how much the coastal road is, and then you’re dancing around, saying the next kilometre is different from the next,” Makinde said. “Then what is the average cost?”
The governor then compared the highway to road projects his administration completed in Oyo State, breaking down the numbers for context.
“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road, it was about ₦9.99 billion for roughly 34 or 35 kilometres, that’s about ₦238 million per kilometre,” he explained.
“For Iseyin to Ogbomoso, 76 kilometres cost around ₦43 billion, which is about ₦500 million per kilometre, and that included two bridges.”
President Tinubu’s administration announced the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway last year.
The ambitious project is set to run through nine states with two additional spurs connecting northern regions.
When the first 47.47-kilometre stretch was handed over to Hitech Construction Company Limited, Umahi said the road would be built with concrete pavement for durability.
