Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has urged the Bola Tinubu administration to make public all contractual details of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, including financing terms, counterpart funding, and the identities of private financiers.
Atiku’s call follows growing controversy over the project’s true cost per kilometre, a figure that Minister of Works, David Umahi, had initially declined to disclose.
In a statement titled “Coastal Highway Cost Scandal: Atiku Abubakar Vindicated,” Atiku’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused the Tinubu government of a lack of transparency.
“You will find out that our cost is ₦4 billion instead of the ₦8 billion claimed by the former Vice President,” Umahi had earlier said. “However, the same minister has now admitted that the actual cost is closer to ₦8 billion per kilometre — precisely what Atiku warned Nigerians about,” Shaibu noted.
According to Shaibu, the minister’s admission vindicates Atiku’s earlier position and further exposes inconsistencies in the government’s handling of one of Nigeria’s most expensive infrastructure projects.
The $11 billion project is reportedly structured such that the Federal Government will contribute only between 15 and 30 percent of the total cost, raising concerns about the project’s financing and accountability.
“This raises serious questions,” Shaibu stated. “Who are the real financiers? What sovereign guarantees are in place? How did a supposedly cost-effective project balloon to Atiku’s projected figure?”
He reiterated Atiku’s call for due process, competitive bidding, and full transparency in the execution of public infrastructure projects, stressing that Nigerians deserve clarity, not contradictions or concealed deals.
Shaibu also demanded that the Federal Government:
- Publish the full contractual details of the project;
- Disclose financing terms and counterpart obligations;
- Commission an independent value-for-money audit; and
- Suspend further payments until full transparency is ensured.
“Atiku’s consistent advocacy for accountability in governance continues to set him apart as a statesman,” Shaibu concluded. “History has once again vindicated him as a voice of reason and patriotism.”
