3 weeks ago
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Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticised the Minister of Works, David Umahi, for refusing to supply a wide breakdown of the outgo of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, describing his effect to nationalist inquiries arsenic evasive and unnecessary.
Speaking successful a viral video connected Friday, Makinde said determination was nary crushed for Umahi to beryllium “dancing astir the cost” of the multibillion-naira highway, which has generated contention since its support by President Bola Tinubu.
“They asked a curate however overmuch the coastal roadworthy is, and past you (Umahi) are dancing astir and going to accidental that no, the adjacent kilometre is antithetic from the adjacent kilometre. Then what is the mean cost?” Makinde asked.
LEADERSHIP reports that the governor’s remarks came aft a heated speech connected Tuesday betwixt Umahi and Arise News anchor, Rufai Oseni. During the unrecorded interview, Oseni had requested that the curate interruption down the outgo of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway connected a per-kilometre basis.
The question appeared to irritate the minister, who responded sharply, saying the enquiry “made nary sense” and that the writer lacked the method cognition to recognize the figures.
“These are simple questions. And it makes nary sense. A process is ongoing, outgo has been made, and you are saying, ‘how has this wealth been utilised?’ The wealth is meant for the project, and it volition beryllium paid according to the enactment done,” Umahi had said.
He added, “When a certificate is generated, and it is approved done a process successful the Ministry of Works, it volition past beryllium fixed to the funders, who will, successful turn, cheque if the works were done. How tin you beryllium asking for outgo per kilometre? The prices are different. The adjacent kilometre is antithetic from the adjacent kilometre.
“Keep quiescent and halt saying what you don’t know. I’m a prof successful this field. You don’t recognize anything. You person nary cognition of what you ask.”
Oseni, refusing to backmost down, retorted, “Minister, it’s alright. Keep dignifying yourself, and fto the satellite cognize who you genuinely are.”
But, reacting to the development, Makinde defended the journalist’s question, saying Nigerians merit transparency connected nationalist expenditure. The politician illustrated his constituent by citing the outgo of roadworthy projects executed by his medication successful Oyo State
“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin roadworthy then, it was astir ₦9.99 billion, astir ₦10 billion. About 34 oregon 35 kilometres, mean outgo is astir ₦238 cardinal per kilometre,” helium explained.
“But erstwhile we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso, that was 76 kilometres, it was astir ₦43 billion, mean outgo is astir ₦500 cardinal per kilometre. And we had 2 bridges, 1 implicit the Ogun River and past 1 astatine Ogbomoso end.”
Makinde argued that if authorities governments could openly supply outgo analyses of their projects, determination was nary crushed for a national curate to debar doing the aforesaid connected a large nationalist highway.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, spanning astir 700 kilometres crossed 9 states, is 1 of the largest infrastructure projects nether the Tinubu administration. The project, being handled by Hitech Construction Company Limited, includes 2 spurs linking the corridor to bluish Nigeria.
In 2024, Umahi officially handed implicit the archetypal signifier of the 47.47-kilometre dual carriageway to the contractors, stating that the task would beryllium built utilizing factual pavement and completed wrong grounds time.
At the time, the curate warned that the Federal Government would not tolerate outgo variations oregon delays, stressing that contractors indispensable present promptly erstwhile mobilisation had been done.
Despite these assurances, nationalist interest continues to equine implicit the project’s existent cost, level of transparency, and imaginable economical implications.
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