The Lagos-Calabar coastal highway may go down in the annals of history as the most controversial government project in Nigeria’s nationhood. Apart from the humongous budget, a staggering N15trl, the largest single project to be so awarded, it is fast gaining grounds for the sour taste it is leaving on the taste buds of local investors especially.
Ignoring whether the morals and sanctity of the procurement process was breached or not as being raised in many quarters, the Federal Government by the actions being exhibited in pursuing the project, has subtly communicated its indifference about the welfare of her citizens, which should be the primary preoccupation of any government.
While so many prominent citizens of the country have consistently urged the government to drop the idea of this project at this auspicious time when the country is grappling with lean resources, it is pertinent that the government should listen to this voice of wisdom and do what will be beneficial to a greater majority of Nigerians within the funds available to it.
Although the time-span given for the completion of this project has been put at eight years, it is instructive to reiterate that this may not happen, judging by the previous experiences as regards contract awards and project completion in Nigeria. With the towering inflation, it is most likely that this project started at N15trl, may well be reevaluated to double this amount as times goes on.
While it is the joy of every government to have a notable project that will signpost its era, it will be counterproductive if such would only bring anguish to the citizens like the coastal highway is doing, with the ongoing demolition of business initiatives which have created jobs for Nigerian youths.
People may argue that this would bring relief at the end, but Nigerians need to be alive and well to enjoy the future relief, or who would heave a sigh of relief watching investments worth millions of dollars, garnered over many years, being crushed under the metal blades of mowing vehicles deployed by the Federal Ministry of Works?
Of course this whole process has put the minster, Dave Umahi in the spotlight. He is the poster boy of the project. Nigerians know President Tinubu as an accountant who became a political strategist, but Dave Umahi is the civil engineer, whose expert advice is supposed to guide the President’s decision on matters like this.
Dave Umahi is the one people are asking why he did not render his advice that Nigerians, currently grapping with acute fuel shortages are better off with functional refineries and even ten hours of electricity daily, than this coastal highway. It is Umahi the minister, who is an engineer that Nigerian citizens are asking why he did not make the East West road, a priority after the accident on the yet to be completed federal highway, which less than two weeks ago, claimed eight lives and left over 90 motor vehicles burnt.
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It is Dave Umahi, the engineer-minister that Nigerians (not just the Arise TV reporter, Laila Johnson Salami) are asking to present the Environmental Impact Assessment report of this project, so they are aware of what to expect from this environmentally speaking.
Do we need to remind the minister that governance must wear a human face and that “a government’s legacy isn’t etched in its decrees, but in the lasting positive transformation it brings to the lives of its citizens, according to Aloo Denish Obiero, the Kenyan scientist and author.
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