Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has shared his thoughts on the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, which was approved by President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking in a viral video on Friday, Makinde said there was no reason for the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to be evasive about the project’s cost.
The governor’s comment followed a heated live exchange earlier in the week between Umahi and Arise TV presenter Rufai Oseni, who had asked the minister to break down the cost of the highway on a per-kilometre basis.
Umahi, visibly irritated by the question, dismissed it as “elementary” and claimed that the cost of each kilometre varied due to differences in terrain and construction requirements. He also told Oseni to “keep quiet,” saying, “I’m a professor in this field. You don’t understand anything about engineering.”
Oseni, however, stood his ground, replying, “Minister, it’s alright. Keep dignifying yourself and let the world know who you truly are.”
Reacting to the incident, Governor Makinde defended the journalist’s question, saying it was a fair and straightforward one.
“They asked a minister how much the coastal road costs, and he started dancing around the question,” Makinde said. “He said the next kilometre is different from the next kilometre — okay, fine, but what’s the average cost?”
Makinde went on to give examples from his own administration’s road projects in Oyo State.
“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road, it cost about ₦9.99 billion — roughly ₦10 billion — for about 34 or 35 kilometres. That’s about ₦238 million per kilometre on average.
“When we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso — that’s 76 kilometres — it cost about ₦43 billion, which comes to around ₦500 million per kilometre. And we had two bridges there: one over the Ogun River and another at the Ogbomoso end.”
Makinde’s remarks come amid ongoing public debate over the true cost and transparency of the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which cuts across nine states and includes two spurs leading to the northern region.
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The Federal Government had last year handed over the first phase of the project — a 47.47km dual carriageway — to Hitech Construction Company Limited.
During the handover, Minister Umahi emphasized that all contractors must complete their projects on schedule, warning that the government would not entertain cost variations due to unnecessary delays once mobilisation funds had been released.
