The murky coastal highway project
The opaqueness and flip-flops surrounding the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway have deepened. On October 12, 2026, Minister of Works David Umahi announced that the highway would be rerouted inland after passing through Lagos and Ogun states, through Edo State, to join the long-neglected East-West Road. He described the detour as “a wonderful engineering decision by […]
The Coastal Highway project, estimated to cost between $11 billion and $13 billion, has faced increasing opacity and contradictory statements. Originally designed to run through nine coastal states, including Lagos, Ogun, and Calabar, the project was rerouted inland in October 2026. The Minister of Works, David Umahi, attributed this change to a "wonderful engineering decision by Mr. President," but this was followed by further revisions, such as reducing the highway's width from 10 lanes to six.
Controversially, the contract for the project was awarded to HITECH Construction Company, owned by President Bola Tinubu's friend Gilbert Chagoury, through single-source procurement and a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. This decision has raised questions about accountability, with Daily Trust demanding independent audits of the project's costs, route, and procurement process.
The government's handling of the project has been criticized for ignoring constitutional provisions, failing to follow due process, and not conducting a required Environmental Impact Assessment. Daily Trust urges transparency, including the publication of bills of quantities, payment records, and details of compensation for demolitions, and calls for adherence to proper planning and technical assessments for future projects.
Written by urgent.news from Daily Trust's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
