Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has raised issues with the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway which has recently been approved for implementation, saying that the decision to award it to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited (Hitech) allegedly highlights the Bola Tinubu administration’s “penchant for dubious and shady deals.”

He made the observation in a statement issued on Sunday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, where he recalled that the Goodluck Jonathan administration had in November 2014 the contract for the same 10-state, 22-station project with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of $11.97 billion.

Noting that the administration left office before it could implement it, Atiku said that the succeeding administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had reviewed it downwards by $800 million to $11.1 billion with a three year completion period even though it continued to stall.

Atiku said the award of the contract for the project to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited (Hitech) was without any record of a competitive bidding or a decision by Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to him, minister of Works, Dave Umahi refused to reveal how much the project would cost as he only explained that it would run through nine states and would have a rail road running through the middle.

The statement affirmed the minister’s remark that it would come at zero cost to Nigeria, adding that, “The concept of the project was build, operate and transfer, meaning that Hitech would construct the road, operate it for some years and then recoup its money through tollgates before handing it back to the Nigerian government.

“Because the project did not require public funds, it did not go through approval from the National Assembly, which holds the power of appropriation. Also, the project only went through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) with no record of a competitive bidding since Chagoury’s firm was to fund the project 100%.

“However, to the shock of many Nigerians, Umahi returned to FEC with a memo in March 2024 seeking the approval of N1.06 trillion that would be paid to Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project which is wholly in Lagos.

“This pilot phase was to begin from the edge of Chagoury’s Eko Atlantic City on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, and terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Ibeju-Lekki, a distance of 47.47km. Till date, the Tinubu administration has refused to reveal how much the project will cost in total. Umahi, who even came on Channels Television recently, evaded questions as to the total cost of the project.

“But if 47.47km costs about N1.06tn, it means each kilometre is being built at N22.5 billion or $18 million. For a project that is going to be 700km, it means the total cost could be N15.7 trillion or $12.56 billion, which is higher than previous estimates.

“It is curious that the terms of such an audacious project continue to be shrouded in secrecy. Worse still, it is expected to lead to job losses like the demolition of Landmark Beach Resort in Oniru which will lead to the loss of over 12,000 direct and indirect jobs and over $200m in investments according to its management,” it added.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, expressed reservation that the entire first phase of the project begins and end in Lagos State where the state government had earlier planned a similar project, accusing President Tinubu of placing his personal business interest above national interest.

The statement added: “More curious is the fact that the entire pilot phase of this project begins and ends in Lagos, especially within the axis of Bola Tinubu’s business interests. It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners.

“This same Hitech, owned by Chagoury, was unable to complete the 50km Lekki-Epe Expressway. Despite installing two tollgates along the axis, Hitech which was part of the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) consortium was only able to construct about 20km, forcing the Lagos State Government to buy it back at the cost of N7.5 billion ($50 million at the time) in 2013 which came at a loss to the people of Lagos.

“Tinubu has once again put his personal business interest ahead of that of the Nigerian people in violation of his oath of office where he swore that “I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions”.

“The so-called pilot phase from Eko Atlantic to Lekki Deep Sea Port was initially conceived as a Lagos State Government project but because of its huge cost coupled with the fact that Lagos State has a huge debt burden no thanks to Tinubu, the Federal Government is now implementing it under the guise of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. This perhaps explains why there are fears that the project will never get to Calabar, and this is the same reason the project is beginning from Lagos and not Calabar.

“Despite not revealing the cost of this entire project, the Tinubu administration is now on the verge of setting up a so-called Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, a fund targeted at constructing capital projects without the usual budgeting process.

“With a target of N20 trillion or $14.5 billion as seed capital, the fund targets the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway and other projects. The initiative targets Pension Funds, Concessionary Loans, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, private sector arms of multilateral development institutions, and bilateral private sector investors, among others, to secure $35bn annually. The Diaspora funding and equity and endowment funds are also expected to play their part in the plan.

“But this renewed hope fund, which will be spent at the discretion of Tinubu and without transparency, will likely become another means of siphoning public funds through shady projects. With the current Lagos-Calabar highway already being handled in secrecy, it remains to be seen how such a fund will be managed,” he added. (Nigerian Tribune)

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