The Minister for Works, David Umahi, has declared that the Lagos-Calabar highway project is neither a wasteful nor corrupt venture.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had described the N15.6tn Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project as wasteful and corrupt.
The former President disclosed this in Chapter Six of his new book, ‘Nigeria: Past and Future’ where he painted the portrait and characters of chief executives at both the federal and state levels.
Speaking at a stakeholders meeting held in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Thursday, Umahi said it was normal for people to criticise the project, but assured all that the project would bring prosperity to the citizens.
He said, “The project is not wasteful and corrupt. I have read on social media where people were saying that why is the government or the contractor not explaining, but as the Minister of Work, I am qualified to explain the project.
“It is natural and normal for people to criticise, but I’ve ran the benefits of the project, the cost analysis of the project, the job is already done about 70% and the project will bring a lot of prosperity to the citizens. I’ll ask those criticising it not to follow the road.
“I want to commend the president. His peers are jealous, angry but that means he is doing very well what nobody has been able to do. The project is transparent, it is great in return of investment, so I want to urge everyone to ignore such statement.”
Umahi also stated that the first section of the project would be completed by next year.
Speaking on other ongoing federal road projects in the state such as the Akure/Iju Road, Ilesha/Akure Road among others, the minister said plans were already in place to look into the issue of compensation so that the contractors handling the projects won’t have any problem.
