......Says transparency needed in multi-trillion naira project

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has criticised the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, accusing him of evading questions regarding the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project recently approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Makinde made the remarks on Friday while reacting to Umahi’s heated exchange with Arise TV presenter Rufai Oseni earlier in the week. During the interview, Umahi declined to provide a per-kilometre breakdown of the project’s cost, dismissing the journalist’s question as “elementary.”

Oseni had asked the minister to clarify the cost per kilometre of the coastal highway, but Umahi responded sharply, insisting that construction costs vary along different sections of the route and accusing the journalist of lacking technical understanding.

“Keep quiet and stop saying what you don’t know. I’m a professor in this field… The prices are different. The next kilometre is different from the next kilometre,” Umahi had said.

Governor Makinde, however, faulted the minister’s reaction, describing it as dismissive and unnecessary.

 “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. Then what is the average cost?” Makinde queried.

The Oyo governor went on to draw comparisons with road projects executed under his administration, noting that transparency in project costs helps to build public trust.

“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road, it was about ₦9.99 billion for roughly 35 kilometres, an average of ₦238 million per kilometre.

For the Iseyin to Ogbomoso road, 76 kilometres cost ₦43 billion, about ₦500 million per kilometre. And that included two bridges,” he explained.

Makinde’s comments add to the growing public debate over the actual cost and transparency surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, one of the Tinubu administration’s flagship infrastructure projects, reportedly stretching over 700 kilometres and linking major coastal states in southern Nigeria.