Campaign Group Seeks Independent Coastal Highway Review

By Atlantic Reports

The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has called for an independent review of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, raising questions about route adjustments, costs and procurement transparency.

The organisation’s Director-General, Felix Hyat, made the call at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

He urged the Federal Government to explain the reasons for the revised alignment and disclose its implications for expenditure and project delivery.

The Federal Ministry of Works has defended the adjustments, saying they were informed by engineering considerations, including difficult terrain and subsoil conditions in some areas.

Calls for Engineering Review and Financial Audit

Hyat said the route changes warranted scrutiny of the project’s initial planning, engineering assessments and environmental studies.

He called for an independent engineering review, alongside a financial audit setting out project costs, expenditure to date and completion plans.

The organisation also urged the government to publish relevant procurement and payment records and demonstrate compliance with environmental regulations and procurement requirements.

These are requests for scrutiny, rather than findings that the project breached those requirements. The supplied account did not include documents establishing procurement violations or quantifying additional costs arising from the realignment.

Hyat linked the demand for accountability to the economic pressures facing households, including food, transport and healthcare expenses.

He said major infrastructure investments should produce measurable economic and social benefits for citizens.

Ministry Defends Route and Procurement Decisions

Minister of Works Senator Dave Umahi said the coastal highway remained ongoing.

He explained that proposed reconstruction work on sections of the existing East-West Road was an additional intervention, rather than a replacement for the Lagos-Calabar project.

The ministry said the procurement process followed applicable procedures. According to its account, the Bureau of Public Procurement reviewed and cleared the relevant recommendation before it was presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval.

It also said the contractor’s proposed rates were assessed against prevailing market prices for materials and other inputs.

Those statements set out the ministry’s defence. The supplied material did not contain the underlying approvals, engineering reports or pricing assessments needed to independently evaluate them.

Information Needed to Assess the Changes

The account did not specify the affected sections, the extent of the realignment or any resulting change to the total cost and completion schedule.

Publishing that information would help distinguish adjustments required by engineering conditions from any shortcomings in earlier planning.

For communities and taxpayers, the central questions are what will be built, how the revised route affects them, what the project will cost and when its promised benefits will become available. An independent review, if undertaken, would need to address those issues through evidence rather than competing political assurances.

Atlantic Reports: Voices. People. Facts.