Former Nigerian Vice President and 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has raised concerns over the award of the Lagos-Calabar Highway Project, alleging that due process was not followed.
The project, which entails the construction of a 700-kilometre road, has been a subject of contention between Atiku and the Presidency, with both parties engaging in a media exchange regarding its cost and history.
Atiku insists that the project’s initiation dates back to the final phases of the Goodluck Jonathan administration in November 2014.
However, the Presidency disputes this claim, saying that the project was initiated during administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Minister of Works Dave Umahi announced the commencement of construction on the highway after obtaining approval from the Federal Executive Council.
Umahi disclosed that the project would cost N4 billion per kilometre, contradicting Atiku’s claim of N8 billion per km.
In response, Atiku criticised Umahi for allegedly altering the original project plan after the contract was awarded to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech without competitive bidding.
Atiku described Umahi’s claim that the project would cost N15.6 trillion as wasteful and a “highway to fraud”.
Atiku questioned the transparency of awarding the contract without competitive bidding and raised concerns about the funding source for the project, particularly since Hitech was purportedly unable to raise the necessary funds.
The former Vice President also called for clarity on the railway component of the project and criticised Umahi for suggesting that only Hitech was capable of executing it.
“Umahi had announced that the project would be fully funded by Hitech, and based on this, there was no competitive bidding. He (Umahi) then turned around to say that Hitech could only raise just 6% of the money for the pilot phase. This smacks of deceit.
“The total budget of all 36 states of the federation for 2024 stands at about N14 trillion. If you add that of the FCT, the entire budget of all sub-nationals is N15.91 trillion. This is scandalous. Worse still, they have already awarded the contract but are still not sure of the level of the counterpart funding component of the Federal Government,” the statement read.
