No need for the Minister to be dancing around the cost – Governor Makinde calls out Umahi over coastal highway

Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, criticising the Minister of Works, David Umahi, for what he described as evasiveness over the project’s true cost.

Makinde addressed the issue while speaking at a public event, saying there was “no need for the Minister to be dancing around the cost” of the project. His comments came days after Umahi engaged in a heated on-air exchange with Arise TV journalist Rufai Oseni, who had pressed the minister to disclose the cost per kilometre of the 700-kilometre highway.

During the interview, Umahi appeared visibly agitated by the question, declaring himself “a professor of practice in engineering” and dismissing Oseni’s inquiry as “elementary.” He argued that road costs could not be calculated uniformly because each kilometre presented unique engineering challenges. Watch video here 

“These are elementary questions,” Umahi said during the live broadcast. “The money is meant for the project, and it will be paid according to the work done. The prices are different — the next kilometre is different from the next kilometre. Keep quiet and stop saying what you don’t know. I’m a professor in this field. You don’t understand anything.”

Oseni, refusing to back down, replied, “Minister, it’s alright. Keep dignifying yourself, and let the world know who you truly are.”

Weighing in on the exchange, Governor Makinde sided with the journalist, insisting that Nigerians have a right to know the average cost of such a massive public project.

“They asked a minister how much the coastal road is, and then you (Umahi) are dancing around and saying that the next kilometre is different from the next kilometre. Then what is the average cost?” Makinde asked.

Makinde then compared the coastal highway to road projects completed under his osn administration saying; “When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road, it was about ₦9.99 billion — almost ₦10 billion — for about 34 or 35 kilometres. That’s an average of ₦238 million per kilometre,” he said.

“When we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso, that was 76 kilometres at about ₦43 billion, averaging ₦500 million per kilometre. And that project included two bridges — one over the Ogun River and another at the Ogbomoso end.”

Makinde’s comments have reignited debate over the transparency and cost structure of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, one of Nigeria’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, stretching across nine states with two additional spurs leading northward.

The project, awarded to Hitech Construction Company Limited, was officially flagged off in 2024 by President Bola Tinubu, with the first phase comprising 47.47 kilometres of dual carriageway constructed with concrete pavement.

In a statement issued at the time by Umahi’s media aide, Uchenna Orji, the Minister stressed that all contractors handling federal road projects must deliver within record time, warning that delays would not be tolerated and that the government would not accept cost variations once mobilisation had been paid.

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