By Jane Okafor, Abuja
ABUJA: The Presidency has said that the N15.6 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal highway is a visionary legacy project with enormous economic potentials, countering ex – President Olusegun Obasanjo’s characterisation of it as a “waste.”
The Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, stated this on Thursday during an interview on Television Continental.
The elder statesman had described the coastal highway project as a wasteful and corrupt project.
He also condemned President Bola Tinubu -led administration for spending N21 billion on a new official residence for Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
Obasanjo made these remarks in chapter six of his new book ‘Nigeria: Past and Future’, which was presented to the public on March 5 to celebrate his 88th birthday.
He said, “State resources are captured and appropriated, with a pittance to staff and associates to silence whistleblowers.
“Typical examples of waste, corruption and misplaced priority are the murky Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road on which the President had turned deaf ears to protests and the new Vice-President’s official residence built at a cost of N21bn in the time of economic hardship to showcase the administration hitting the ground running and to show the importance of the office of the Vice-President. What small minds!”
However, the presidential aide countered him, stating that the coastal road would bring enormous economic benefits to the country.
He expressed the confidence that the project will be one of the best infrastructure in the country.
He said, “Lagos-Calabar coastal highway is a visionary legacy project with enormous economic potentials.
“Recall when the Lekki-Epe corridor was opened, everyone thought that President Bola Tinubu, who was then Governor of Lagos, didn’t know what he was doing. That corridor has opened up in the last 15 years, some of the highest rates of real estate has sprung up. We’ve seen the Dangote refinery, we’ve seen the Lagos Free Trade Zone and a lot of developments along that corridor.
“Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, when completed and fully utilised, will be one of the best projects ever put out by any President of this country.”
Similarly, The Daily Crucible reports that in 2024, Matthew Ashimolowo, a Nigerian clergyman and senior pastor of Kingsway International Christian Centre in London, had declared his full support for the N15tr 700 -kilometre Lagos – Calabar Coastal Highway project of the federal government, describing it as a “necessity.”
Pastor Ashimolowo who anchored his support for the about 8 – year – duration road project on its strategic economic importance and location, said that 60 percent of the businesses in Nigeria take place in Lagos alone, adding that the Southwest, South – South and South -East geopolitical zones which he reckoned as “Nigeria’s basin of wealth,” lacked quality road infrastructure.
He said that roads in these regions remained largely impassable.
Ashimolowo, therefore, submitted that the coastal highway when completed would decongest traffic on Lagos – Ibadan, Lagos – Ore expressways respectively, fast-track movement of goods and persons and bring about accelerated growth and development in the South and rest of the country.
The renowned international preacher made this position known while speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital after delivering his sermon on Monday on the topic ” The Mark of a Good Man,” being his homily at the 60th birthday celebration of the Founder and Lead Pastor of Victory Life Bible Church International, Apostle Lawrence Achudume.
Ashimolowo, however, advised the federal government not to neglect the need to also fix the existing deplorable federal roads in parts sof the country while working on the ongoing Lagos – Calabar coastal highway.
He also urged the government to cut down cost of governance, devise other belt – tightening strategies to make funds available to help the poor and consider the Kenneysian economic model which entails government making companies to produce in excess while the government buys the surplus for distribution to the poor.
Ashimolowo said, “Personally, I will actually favour that coastal road because 60 percent of businesses done in Nigeria are done in Lagos alone and the Southwest, South – South and South – East are the basin of Nigeria’s wealth yet the roads are impassable.
“I think it is anachronism that the previous government did road to Niger to bring little or nothing. I think the coastal road is a necessity as long as there is balance while they’re doing that(the Lagos – Calabar coastal highway), they are repairing the other ones also.”
