Nigeria’s Minister of Works, David Umahi, has said the entire 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be completed in the next three years, putting the flagship infrastructure project on course for completion before the end of a possible second term for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Speaking in an interview with ARISE News Anchor Ojy Okpe, Umahi expressed confidence that the Federal Government would deliver the full stretch of the highway despite the enormous engineering challenges presented by sections of the route through the Niger Delta.

“I believe that within the next three years plus, the President will complete the project.

“We already have five sections running. We’re only left with Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo. We have done five out of nine. These five are within two years plus, even though Sections One, Three and Five are still ongoing. But we’ve gotten to the heart of it by sand-filling. The sand-filling is the major thing.”

The commitment represents one of the clearest timelines yet given by the Works Minister for completion of the entire highway, which began construction from the Lagos axis in March 2024.

While several sections have already been awarded and construction is underway from both the Lagos and Calabar ends, engineering design and soil investigations are still being carried out for some sections through the Niger Delta.

Umahi explained that the project is being designed, procured and constructed section by section rather than from a single engineering design covering the entire 750 kilometres.

“There is no one single design for the 750 km of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway,” he said.

According to the minister, the highway as originally conceived was essentially a concept rather than a completed engineering design, requiring environmental assessments, soil investigations and detailed engineering work to be undertaken as individual sections are developed.

He said design work was currently ongoing for the Edo, Delta and Bayelsa sections, while engineering decisions on difficult terrain would determine the final alignment, bridges and other structures required along the corridor.

Umahi said the Federal Government had already commenced work on Sections 1 (completed) and 2 in Lagos before moving to Sections 3A and 3B in Cross River and Akwa Ibom, as well as Sections 4A and 4B covering the Ogun and Ondo axis.

Section 5, measuring about 82.35 kilometres, is entirely within Akwa Ibom State, he said.

The minister’s new three-year completion commitment would bring delivery of the full highway forward from earlier projections. In September 2024, ARISE News – quoting the minister – reported that the entire project was expected to take about eight years to complete after construction commenced in March of that year.

Since then, construction has advanced on several fronts. In May 2026, Umahi said Section Two would reach the Lagos-Ogun border by November, while motorists were expected to be able to travel into Ondo before May 2027. Sections 3A and 3B in Akwa Ibom and Cross River, meanwhile, were flagged off in April 2025 with a 36-month contract period.

Umahi also rejected suggestions that the project’s alignment through the Niger Delta had been abandoned or replaced by the East-West Road, insisting that the original Lagos-Calabar corridor remained intact.

“The alignment is intact,” he said, explaining that the approximately 400-kilometre East-West Road reconstruction approved by Tinubu would instead serve as an additional connection to the Coastal Highway.

He said the administration’s broader objective was to integrate the Lagos-Calabar corridor with other major federal road projects, creating alternative routes and opening up economic activity across the southern states.

Construction of the Coastal Highway began in Lagos in March 2024, with the project designed to pass through Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. (Arise News)