The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has hit back at those criticising the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway being embarked upon by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying the critics were only jealous of Tinubu’s achievements.
Recently, the Secretary-General of pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Sola Ebiseni, in an open letter to the president, called on Tinubu to review the alignment of the highway to include coastal communities in Ondo State.
He also decried that more than 100 kilometres of the state’s coastline had been bypassed in the highway’s alignment.
Speaking after inspecting the ongoing coastal highway project in the llaje Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday, Umahi said the critics were allegedly attacking the president because they never believed the project could be a success.
The minister said, “Let me remark on what the Afenifere secretary wrote, accusing the Ministry of Works of diverting the coastal highway and, of course, when he said that it was diverted to upland because of people that own estates there, that’s far from being the truth.
”The coastal highway, we know, our preference is to go along the coast. But engineering is very dynamic. When we designed the coastal highway within this section, yes, we designed it to go through the coast, just about two kilometres off the shoreline.
”I’ll also respond to what one of the people who came together with the president when he was governor of Lagos State said. I watched the interview. A very brilliant man. What I took away from that interview was that he wasn’t into insults. But a number of issues he raised are quite germane, and when he said that the coastal highway would never go beyond a certain point, I want to say to him that it’s not correct. And when he said it’s not a priority, what was in his mind when they all came together and decided to do this coastal highway but could not do it because of funding and other challenges?
”So, those who are attacking the coastal highway, I would say, are doing so out of envy and jealousy because they never believed that this president could do it. But the man who tamed the Atlantic Ocean is good. I call him a Divine President. And I want our stakeholders and leaders to watch and see this president realise this coastal highway.”
Explaining the level of work on the new highway, Umahi, a former governor of Ebonyi State, said section one of the road had already been completed – 7.47 km from Victoria Island to Eleko Village.
”Section two is ongoing. That’s about 5 km within Lagos to the border, and it’s about 70 per cent completed. There is Section three and three B, about 67 km, which is about 30 per cent completed. Then there is Section four, which covers 82 km, including portions in Ondo State.
”The president is determined to do this. We also have another section in Akwa Ibom, about 180 km. I think it may be the longest section within the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. That work is ongoing. There is also a new section of about 100 km taking off at the end of the Ondo section. That project is at the design stage.
”Of course, what will be left are Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta states. I agree that difficult terrains like Delta and Bayelsa are there. But with Hi-Tech Construction Company, the National Assembly, and the president, whom they call the infrastructure god, and with the wisdom and knowledge available, we believe our hopes are high and that this project will be realised,” the minister stated.
He urged the traditional rulers and people living in the coastal communities in Ondo State to join hands in supporting the ongoing administration to completely achieve success in the projects.
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