THE LAGOS-CALABAR COASTAL ROAD: A COSTLY SPECTACLE FOR A FRACTION OF PROGRESS.
…..A RUSHED CELEBRATION OF AN UNFINISHED DREAM.
By Peter Ameh
As the former National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), I feel compelled to address the recent commissioning of a mere 30 kilometers of the proposed 700-kilometer Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, a project heralded as a transformative infrastructure initiative for Nigeria’s coastal regions.
The extravagant ceremony, marked by the President’s journey from Abuja to Lagos with a large entourage of aides, security personnel, DSS, and orderlies, alongside governors from multiple states with their own retinues, is a glaring display of misplaced priorities and fiscal irresponsibility. The expenditure of billions of naira on logistics, hotels, and lodges to celebrate just 4.3% of the project’s completion is not only unjustifiable but also reeks of propaganda designed to mask the project’s larger, unfinished reality.
The fanfare surrounding this event raises critical questions: what exactly is being celebrated? The completion of a small fragment of an ambitious 700-kilometer road, or an attempt to project progress where little exists? The billions spent on this spectacle could have been better allocated to addressing the project’s actual challenges, such as the difficult terrain along the Ondo coastal line, where swampy lands and creeks spanning over 40 kilometers and reaching depths of 8 feet have stalled progress. The revelation by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, in an Arise TV interview, that these terrain challenges were only discovered after construction began, exposes a shocking lack of planning. The Ondo axis, considered one of the easier terrains compared to the more complex Niger Delta coastal line, should have been thoroughly surveyed before work commenced. If the project is already faltering here, what lies ahead in more challenging regions?
Even more alarming is the absence of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), a standard requirement for projects of this magnitude.
The failure to conduct feasibility studies, geotechnical surveys, or route optimization points to a reckless “build-now-think-later” approach that undermines the project’s viability and fuels suspicions of misappropriation. This lack of due process suggests that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road may have been initiated as a convenient avenue for channeling public funds under the guise of a grand infrastructure scheme since till date no one can accurately state the true cost of the costal highway project or evidence of an appropriation act by the National assembly.
Nigerians deserve better than governance that prioritizes optics over substance, leaving citizens feeling taken for granted.
*The decision to mobilize such a large entourage for a tape-cutting ceremony*, at an enormous cost to public funds, underscores a deeper systemic issue: the disregard for due process and accountability in Nigerian governance. This extravagance is particularly galling when only 4.3% of the road has been completed, and no clear strategy exists to tackle the remaining 670 kilometers, especially in the more formidable Niger Delta terrain. At its current pace of delivering 30 kilometers of road within two years then it will take about 24 years for the remaining 670 kilometer to be completed and the project risks joining the long list of abandoned or perpetually delayed infrastructure initiatives in Nigeria’s history, becoming yet another symbol of unfulfilled promises and squandered potential.
I call on the government to treat such projects with transparency, fiscal responsibility, and rigorous planning in all infrastructure projects.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road holds immense potential to transform Nigeria’s coastal regions, but its current trajectory suggests it may never be completed without a commitment to due process. Nigerians are tired of grand promises and bold announcements that yield minimal results.
Rebuilding public confidence, the government must ensure that projects of this scale are built on a foundation of accountability, with proper assessments like EIAs and geotechnical surveys conducted before construction begins. Only then can Nigeria deliver on its infrastructure dreams and provide the development its citizens deserve.
Signed, Peter Ameh Former National Chairman, Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)
