₦airaland Forum

Former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, Shehu Sani, has stated that the N15.6 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal highway is not a wasteful project.

PUNCH Online reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had described the coastal highway project as a wasteful and corrupt venture.

He also criticised the President Bola Tinubu 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 unveiled last week to mark 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!”

Reacting in a post via his official X handle on Thursday, Sani said the highway project is not wasteful, adding that the funds for the project could have been stolen.

He wrote, “I don’t think Lagos Calabar highway is wasteful, taking cognisance that such amount of money for the project can be stolen by one man, as it happened in the CBN in the past.”

AnonPoet:
https://punchng.com/lagos-calabar-highway-project-not-wasteful-shehu-sani-replies-obasanjo/

phransix2:
The project never passed the transparency test also not in a time there's wild spread hunger and the country's huge debt profile.

Leonardo4:
The facts remains it's a wasteful venture , admit or not

lonecatt:
this one has started his new job
if Obasanjo,Yar'Adua and co embarked on such projects and put the economy at risk with lots of debt I don't think the government of the day will be breathing
Coastal highway to fraud is another avenue to embezzle funds.

AsgardKing:
I do not think that small minds understand the value of that project to Nigerias future with regards to travel, tourism, logistics and the vast business opportunities and social development that it will birth.

fixedhollies:
Very wasteful venture… such projects should’ve waited after economic recovery. Not a project to be done when the economy is bleeding.

What is the importance of road beside water, when we could use advanced water transportation around those areas or better still a rail system.

All d roads within the cities are totally down

AnonPoet:
https://punchng.com/lagos-calabar-highway-project-not-wasteful-shehu-sani-replies-obasanjo/

AnonPoet:
https://punchng.com/lagos-calabar-highway-project-not-wasteful-shehu-sani-replies-obasanjo/

AMINDA:
Spending 15 trillion (half of the country's budget) on a single road without procurement is not only misplaced, it's fraudulent. It does not help that the contractor (Chargoury) is a business partner of the contract awardee. That's conflict of interest. A quarter of that sum would have completed the linking of the entire country by rail, as envisioned by Buhari. That would have had far more impact in terms of travel, tourism, logistics, business opportunities and social development.

chopnaira:
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, a 750-kilometer road, is being funded through a combination of government investment and private funding, with the contractor, Hitech Construction Company, securing 70% of the funds via an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing (EPC+F) agreement, while the government provides 30%.

Meanwhile obasanjo spent $16 Billiom dollars on fictitious power projects. Lets not forget how he made everything senate rotten by bribing them so that he could get a 3rd term.

dettolgel:
You are aware that two events could be true at the same time?

AMINDA:
Spending 15 trillion (half of the country's budget) on a single road without procurement is not only misplaced, it's fraudulent. It does not help that the contractor (Chargoury) is a business partner of the contract awardee. That's conflict of interest. A quarter of that sum would have completed the linking of the entire country by rail, as envisioned by Buhari. That would have had far more impact in terms of travel, tourism, logistics, business opportunities and social development.