{"id":122909,"date":"2025-10-10T20:19:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=122909"},"modified":"2025-10-10T20:19:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:19:23","slug":"coastal-highway-give-nigerians-figures-makinde-tells-umahi-backs-oseni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/coastal-highway-give-nigerians-figures-makinde-tells-umahi-backs-oseni\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Highway: Give Nigerians Figures, Makinde tells Umahi, backs Oseni"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Myke Agunwa, Abuja<\/div>\n
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Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticized the Minister of Works, David Umahi, for failing to provide a clear explanation of the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, a flagship project of the President Bola Tinubu-led government.<\/div>\n
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Makinde, who spoke in a viral video on Friday, said there was no justification for the minister to be evasive about the financial details of the multi-billion naira project during a media interview session.<\/div>\n
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The governor was reacting to a heated on-air exchange between Umahi and Arise News presenter, Rufai Oseni on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
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Oseni had pressed the minister to provide a breakdown of the project\u2019s cost per kilometre, but Umahi declined, arguing that the figures varied from one section of the road to another. He described the question as \u201celementary\u201d and accused the journalist of lacking technical knowledge in engineering.<\/div>\n
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\u201cKeep quiet and stop saying what you don\u2019t know. I\u2019m a professor in this field. You don\u2019t understand anything,\u201d Umahi had retorted during the interview.<\/div>\n
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Defending the journalist, Makinde said the question was legitimate and demanded transparency in public expenditure.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThey asked a minister how much the coastal road is, and then you are dancing around and saying the next kilometre is different from the next kilometre. Then what is the average cost?\u201d Makinde queried.<\/div>\n
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The governor compared the project to similar road constructions undertaken by his administration, citing examples of the Oyo\u2013Iseyin and Iseyin\u2013Ogbomoso roads.<\/div>\n
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\u201cWhen we did the Oyo to Iseyin road, it cost about \u20a69.99 billion for roughly 34 kilometres, translating to about \u20a6238 million per kilometre. The Iseyin to Ogbomoso road was 76 kilometres at about \u20a643 billion, roughly \u20a6500 million per kilometer, and it included two major bridges,\u201d he explained.<\/div>\n
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The Federal Government had last year announced the commencement of construction on the 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which cuts across nine states with two spurs leading to northern Nigeria<\/div>\n
The first phase of the project a 47.47-kilometre dual carriageway was awarded to Hitech Construction Company Limited and is to be built on a concrete pavement.<\/div>\n
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Umahi, while handing over the project site in Lagos, had said the government would ensure strict monitoring of timelines and would not entertain contract variations arising from delays once mobilisation had been completed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n