BUSINESS DAY
The Calabar-Lagos coastal road appears to be perennially swallowed in controversy since the first day of the project’s unveiling.
Over the weekend opposition leader and former vice president Atiku Abubakar added fuel to the fire when he revealed that the president’s son Seyi is on the Board of the firm given the gigantic contract and alleged that President Bola Tinubu appears to more concerned about lining the pocket of friends and family.
Analysts say there is a lot more about the huge deal than the government is able to disclose so far.
The analysts are shocked by the utter lack of transparency and empathy with which the construction is being handled and they have raised six mins boggling questions:
1. Nigeria seeks to build a Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Of the places it could possibly start off from is Lagos, it just has to start off from Eko Atlantic, which is or will be the preserve of the privileged, ultra monied elite. Why?
2. The original coastal road as the people were told during the construction of the Lekki expressway/toll gates, was the Water Corporation road. Nigerians were told it was going to be an alternative route to the tolled road. Today, a large expanse of that road has been abandoned and is virtually an eyesore. But, we have chosen to ignore it and instead start a brand new “Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway”. Why?
3. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is such an ‘urgent’ project that work on it commenced even before it was announced to the public. Quite a feat and highly unusual for any government project in this part of the world. Typically, such projects are slow to take off and are riddled with delays. In this case it’s so very different. What’s the great, big hurry and why?
4. This is the only project of this magnitude Nigerians have ever seen/heard of where an EIA stakeholder meeting is being convened AFTER the project has commenced. It appears the views/concerns of stakeholders and the potential environmental impact of the project are of absolutely no concern to the project owners/sponsors. This is particularly strange given the centrality today of ESG factors to project financing and investment decisions.
