Former aviation minister, Osita Chidoka, has asked President Bola Tinubu to suspend the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal road project.
Naija News reports that the Federal Government recently started the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal road, which is being done by Hitech Construction Company Ltd.
The road project has attracted considerable criticism from Nigerians, with many questioning the need to embark on such a monumental project at a time when the nation is borrowing to execute existing projects.
Some of the project’s strongest critics are opposition leaders, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday night, Chidoka said the government should instead improve Nigeria’s inland waterways and build small seaports across the coastal areas to move goods from one coastal city to another by ship.
According to the PDP chieftain, Tinubu should stop the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project due to the controversy it has generated, stressing that the financiers cannot raise finance for the project except if they use budgetary funds to fund it.
Chidoka said the contract award for the coastal road did not follow due process, adding that the whole process was shrouded in secrecy and, therefore, lacked transparency.
He said, “Stop it now and subject it to public conversation because the financiers cannot raise finance for this project except if they use budgetary funds to fund it. Nobody can raise finance if they know they had no competitive bidding.
“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.”
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