A former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, says it is not late for President Bola Tinubu to stop the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal road project and subject it to further public conversations.
Chidoka said the government should rather improve Nigeria’s inland waterways, build small seaports across the coastal areas as the best way to move goods from one coastal city to another is by ship.
The former minister, who was a guest on a live television programme on Thursday, was asked what he would do about the project if he was the President considering the controversy it has generated, to which he replied that he would stop it.
“Stop it now and subject it to public conversation because the financiers cannot raise finance for this project except if he uses budgetary fund to fund it. Nobody can raise finance if they know they had no competitive bidding,” Chidoka said.
The ex-minister said that the award of the contract for the coastal road did not follow due process and that the whole process was shrouded in secrecy and therefore lacked transparency.
“If what the minister (Dave Umahi) said is correct, then there is an absolute breach because the first thing that would have happened is that ICRC would have received this, the second thing is that even with the designs done by them and the desire to be able to get funding, neither the IFC, World Bank, European Bank, African Development Bank would fund a project that doesn’t go through competitive bidding.
“Ask any of the financial institutions, where would they get the money from? It was never advertised,” he said.
Chidoka said the President has alternative projects to embark on as legacy project.
According to him, Tinubu can redesign the national highway, authorise a new National Highway Act to dualise the existing highways and connect them to the airports and seaports.
The Lagos-Calabar coastal road project has attracted a lot of criticisms from Nigerians, with many questioning the need to embark on such a monumental project at a time the nation is borrowing to execute existing projects.
Some of the strongest critics of the project are opposition figureheads, Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party.
The Federal Government recently started the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road which is being done by Hitech Construction Company Ltd.
Earlier on Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution to investigate the procurement process in the award of the contract of the ₦15trn coastal road.
The House said the 2007 Procurement Act was violated and that certain approvals by the National Assembly as required by the law were not given.
