Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticized the Minister of Works, David Umahi, for refusing to provide a clear breakdown of the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
Speaking in a viral video on Friday, Makinde said there was no reason for Umahi to “dance around” questions regarding the project’s cost, after a heated television exchange between the minister and Arise TV presenter Rufai Oseni earlier in the week.
During the live interview, Oseni had asked Umahi to give a kilometre-by-kilometre cost analysis of the 700km highway. The minister reacted angrily, describing the question as “elementary” and asserting his expertise as a “professor of practice in engineering.”
Umahi insisted that the cost per kilometre could not be uniform, claiming each stretch of the road had different construction requirements. He added that payments for the project would be made based on verified work progress, as approved through proper procedures in the Ministry of Works.
Dismissing the minister’s evasive response, Makinde argued that providing an average cost per kilometre was both reasonable and standard practice.
He said:
“They asked the minister how much the coastal road costs, and he was dancing around, saying the next kilometre is different. Then what’s the average cost?
When we built the Oyo-Iseyin road, it cost about ₦9.99 billion for roughly 35 kilometres — an average of ₦238 million per kilometre. For the Iseyin-Ogbomoso road, 76 kilometres cost ₦43 billion, averaging ₦500 million per kilometre, and that included two major bridges.”
Makinde’s comments come amid ongoing public debate over the transparency and value of the multibillion-naira Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
The Federal Government had last year launched the 700km project, spanning nine states with two spurs linking northern routes. The first phase — a 47.47km dual carriageway to be built by Hitech Construction Company Limited — was formally handed over by Umahi, who emphasized the use of concrete pavement and strict delivery timelines.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, the minister warned contractors against project delays and assured that no cost variations would be entertained once mobilization funds were released.
