₦airaland Forum

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has weighed in on the cost of the controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project that was approved by President Bola Tinubu.

Makinde, who spoke at an event in a viral video on Friday, said there was no need for the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to be “dancing around the cost” of the project.

The governor was reacting to a heated exchange that unfolded live on television between Umahi and Arise TV presenter Rufai Oseni on Tuesday.

Oseni had requested the minister to analyse the cost of the project, kilometre by kilometre.

The request didn’t sit well with Umahi, who declared himself “professor” of practice in engineering while elaborating that the costs of the road in kilometres are not the same and would be too complicated for the journalist to understand.

He said, “These are elementary questions. And it makes no sense (sic). A process is ongoing, payment has been made, and you are saying, ‘how has this money been utilised?. The money is meant for the project, and it will be paid according to the work done.

“When a certificate is generated, and it is approved through a process in the Ministry of Works, it will then be given to the funders, who will, in turn, check if the works were done. How can you be asking for cost of kilometre? The prices are different. The next kilometre is different from the next kilometre.

Keep quiet and stop saying what you don’t know. I’m a professor in this field. You don’t understand anything. I understand engineering very well. You have no knowledge of what you ask. You have no knowledge of what you’re asking.

Oseni, who also refused to back down, responded, “Minister, it’s alright, keep dignifying yourself, and let the world know who you truly are.”

However, justifying the journalist’s question to the minister, Makinde said, “They asked a minister how much is the coastal road is, and then you (Umahi) are dancing around and going to say that no, the next kilometre is different from the next kilometres. Then what is the average cost?

“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road then, it was about N9.99 billion, almost N10 billion. About 34 or 35 kilometres, average cost is about N238 million per kilometre.

“But when we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso, that was 76 kilometres, it was about N43 billion, average cost is about N500 million per kilometre. And we had two bridges, one over the Ogun river and then one at Ogbomoso end.”

The PUNCH reports that last year, the Federal Government announced the commencement of construction work on the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, which spans nine states and includes two spurs leading to the northern states.

Umahi made the announcement during the official handover of the first phase of the project, made up of 47.47 kilometers of dual carriageway, to Hitech Construction Company Limited, and which is to be constructed in concrete pavement.

This was contained in a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media), Uchenna Orji.

According to him, the Minister who was in company with the Federal Ministry of Works’ Controller in charge of Lagos State, Mrs O. I. Kesha, emphasised the need for all contractors handling Federal Government’s road projects to deliver within a record time, noting that the government would not allow variation arising from delays or slow pace of work once mobilisation had been done.

The heat is on. Nigerians have been docile for far too long. Thank God they are beginning to wake up.

When emotions and ego take the place of common sense and logic, just expect dumb reactions. Engr. Umahi feels that Rufai was too small to ask him certain questions. He was playing god - typical of a Nigerian politician of the APC fold.

I always knew Dave to be a smart criminal with his engineering whatever whatever that he's into.....after two years patches will come.
I always thought concrete pavement road constructions last longer, but Umahi's company's own lasts for months, and government will still pay for maintenance.
Public funds done really make these politicians heartless.

Tinubu is the biggest political criminal to emerge from Africa. How some humans defend him baffles me.

Tinubu needs to reshuffle his cabinet, it been 2 years. Send Wike to Ministry of Transport, he will be a good agbero there. Send Umahi to Livestock development or Power, let him go and manage Nigeria's darkness. We need new faces to generate value, not arguments.
If a Minister canot provide cost profiles for a humongous project under his ministry, what us his usefulness there?

Reinforced concrete pavement plus asphalt finish will do the job. If quality is maintained it will last for a long time and will need minimal maintenance.

It is rude of Makinde to talk down on Umahi. There are better ways of playing opposition rather than mocking an accomplished engineer. Moreover,asking for cost per kilometre is a lay man's question, there were expecting the minister to give them a figure,so that they could multiply it by 700 and start spewing their gibberish as usual.

This coastal highway of fraud and corruption. Sorry for Dave Umahi. He will be the fall guy of this corruption ridden government when this contract will be probe in future time.

Mr professor in practice chai no wonder Nigeria is where we are today. This too dey dream of one day becoming president lol

But he was not the one caught red handed with over 250 million nairalooted from Anambra to gis house on Aerodomeroad in Apapa.

He is also not the one that looted millions of dollars into his daughter pandora account.

How your likes defend such criminal is what should baffle you nothing else.

Mrfixitt:
Tinubu is the biggest political criminal to emerge from Africa. How some humans defend him baffles me.

Corruption ridden but you can not slcite one corrupt case against the govt.

Una gobopen mouth out of bigotry start to talk rubbish.

Racoon:
This coastal highway of fraud and corruption. Sorry for Dave Umahi. He will be the fall guy of this corruption ridden government when this contract will be probe in future time.

kunle4toyeyaho:
It is rude of Makinde to talk down on Umahi. There are better ways of playing opposition rather than mocking an accomplished engineer. Moreover,asking for cost per kilometre is a lay man's question, there were expecting the minister to give them a figure,so that they could multiply it by 700 and start spewing their gibberish as usual.

Bro you are getting me angry with this your insensitivity! Man... you are part of those who are still holding Nigeria in ramson of bad governance how do you expect the journalist to ask him the question that you are saying it's a lay man? while the general essence of communication is understanding. More so, it is insulting to the intelligence of Nigerians and the public that our politicians don't only have the temerity not to be held accountable but goes on with audacity to even condescend themselves above their questionnaires and abuse them just imagine the level of nerves they have because of immunity and their henchmen or bootlickers like you. A simple question that demands a simple answer has become a national debate of the day because of ego, pride and impulsive behavior by our Kleptomaniac leaders. The level of Nigeria open corruption and outboost is really personified that has never be seen in any corner of the world and what baffles me is seeing some data boys defending our slave masters. To start with, are we in economics class for Dave to say that question was not use with appropriate terms so he can't answer it after fully knowing what the question is all about? Secondly to himself and his online keyboard warriors so because the terrain and topography is not the same we can't have actual cost... sorry average cost? interesting! this I know why mean, mode and median where scrapped in economics or better still why we don't have quantity survey as a course in our universities! This is very jaw breaking and heartbreaking a question without insult but become astronomically aggregated to this magnitude because we are fantastically corrupt!

Whatever they are doing on that fancy road is not my business. They left the supply chain roads that are critical to moving goods and services within the nation to build a several trillion Naira road.

And you see people who claim to have degree (degree in ignorance anyway) supporting this action at this time.

There's Bida/Lapai road, an eyesore, There's Warrri/Sapele road, a nightmare, there's ubolo afor/Kabba road a dungeon and these group of bandits are busy on a fancy road.

Make una try oo.

kunle4toyeyaho:
It is rude of Makinde to talk down on Umahi. There are better ways of playing opposition rather than mocking an accomplished engineer. Moreover,asking for cost per kilometre is a lay man's question, there were expecting the minister to give them a figure,so that they could multiply it by 700 and start spewing their gibberish as usual.

Rude how?
Talk down how?
Mocking? How

What are you talking about?

Accomplished Engineer. .? Where, how?

The job of a minister is not to be an Engineer
It is NOT A TECHNICAL ROLE

IT IS A POLITICAL JOB
The ministry has Engineers to advise the minister


The Minister's job is to represent the interest of the voters and ensure accountability.

In more advanced countries like Germany, France , UK, USA Japan the most common degrees of counterparts in same role are in law, political science, public administration.

NOT ENGINEERING


NOT ONE IS AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE

aribisala0:
Rude how?
Talk down how?
Mocking? How

What are you talking about?

Accomplished Engineer. .? Where, how?

The job of a minister is not to be an Engineer
It is NOT A TECHNICAL ROLE

IT IS A POLITICAL JOB
The ministry has Engineers to advise the minister


The Minister's job is to represent the interest of the voters and ensure accountability.

In more advanced countries like Germany, France , UK, USA Japan the most common degrees of counterparts in same role are in law, political science, public administration.

NOT ENGINEERING


NOT ONE IS AN ENGINEERING GRADUATE

Go and watch Makinde's video first. Telling a senior colleague in engineering 'he is dancing round'? I believe it is a layman's question but if he's to ask the use of certain words is unnecessary . I repeat, it is rude

Validated:
Tinubu needs to reshuffle his cabinet, it been 2 years. Send Wike to Ministry of Transport, he will be a good agbero there. Send Umahi to Livestock development or Power, let him go and manage Nigeria's darkness. We need new faces to generate value, not arguments.
If a Minister canot provide cost profiles for a humongous project under his ministry, what us his usefulness there?

So where will the minister of power go?

kunle4toyeyaho:
Go and watch Makinde's video first. Telling a senior colleague in engineering 'he is dancing round'? I believe it is a layman's question but if he's to ask the use of certain words is unnecessary . I repeat, it is rude

Your problem is English language and probably your socio-economic background

I don't know what you mean by senior colleague in engineering

That seems to be the core of your misapprehension

The Minister of Works is not there as an Engineer
He is a political appointee
That makes him a public servant
He should be accountable and answer questions
Dancing around simply means evasive simple English

He is supposed to be able to communicate to tax payers in language they understand what the government is doing with their money
If he feels too important to do that he can send an aide

He cannot be senior to the people that put his boss in office

I like some of the things Umahi has introduced but we should not like anyone 100%
That is fanatical

If he is wrong he should be called out

The bolded by Makinde is exactly what Umahi was saying, that the road is longer than those 3km roads that are in the same terrain, this one spans across different terrains and so cannot have a single cost per kilometer which even Makinde just confirmed, although inadvertently

“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road then, it was about N9.99 billion, almost N10 billion. About 34 or 35 kilometres, average cost is about N238 million per kilometre.

“But when we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso, that was 76 kilometres, it was about N43 billion, average cost is about N500 million per kilometre. And we had two bridges, one over the Ogun river and then one at Ogbomoso end.”

“They asked a minister how much is the coastal road is, and then you (Umahi) are dancing around and going to say that no, the next kilometre is different from the next kilometres. Then what is the average cost?

9jatriot:
The bolded by Makinde is exactly what Umahi was saying, that the road is longer than those 3km roads that are in the same terrain, this one spans across different terrains and so cannot have a single cost per kilometer which even Makinde just confirmed, although inadvertently

You are not talking sense
Very simple question
What is the average cost per kilometre
This is a JSS level question
It is not that deep

Umahi was evasive and did not communicate with the average voter or taxpayer in his response

kunle4toyeyaho:
It is rude of Makinde to talk down on Umahi. There are better ways of playing opposition rather than mocking an accomplished engineer. Moreover,asking for cost per kilometre is a lay man's question, there were expecting the minister to give them a figure,so that they could multiply it by 700 and start spewing their gibberish as usual.

He does have a point. At the very least, the minister should have disclosed the cost per kilometer for the first section instead of avoiding the question. While there is some lack of transparency regarding the cost, that shouldn’t diminish the significance of the road—especially since it’s concrete, which is more expensive. My concern is that perhaps they have signed an open-ended contract that could make Hitech extremely wealthy, as they could declare any cost upon completion and collect tolls indefinitely. Either way, it’s still beneficial for people, but greater accountability would speed up progress, ensure sustainability, and make the success easier to replicate.

This road would send many people to prison anytime a responsible govt comes in.

E go choke...even the Chagoury would be sent back to their Labanese country just like the Indian brothers in South Africa some years back during the days of Zuma.

Makinde is supposed to be smarter than this.

Cost per kilometer of a road that is facing different challenges at different locations and has different additions at different points. It makes no sense.

It's like building an estate on an expanse of land that consists of solid ground as well as swampy ground and asking the manager to give you an average cost per building. It will be very dishonest of him to do so because the cost of raising a building on a swampy land is not the same as a solid ground. Some buildings are self con, others are flats. So asking for an average per building cost is just not rational. You want to feel like you know what you're talking about by asking that question but you know very well your brain can't comprehend the real analysis.

It would have made more sense it he asked if they could get a copy of the breakdown of the costs, that sounds more reasonable and would have out Umahi in a corner.

erad:
Makinde is supposed to be smarter than this.

Cost per kilometer of a road that is facing different challenges at different locations and has different additions at different points. It makes no sense.

It's like building an estate on an expanse of land that consists of solid ground as well as swampy ground and asking the manager to give you an average cost per building. It will be very dishonest of him to do so because the cost of raising a building on a swampy land is not the same as a solid ground. Some buildings are self con, others are flats. So asking for an average per building cost is just not rational. You want to feel like you know what you're talking about by asking that question but you know very well your brain can't comprehend the real analysis.

It would have made more sense it he asked if they could get a copy of the breakdown of the costs, that sounds more reasonable and would have out Umahi in a corner.

This is nonsense .


Budgeting 101.
How do you know you can afford it if you cannot cost it?
There Is no need for breakdown
You hold a party you host 100 people and spent 1 million
The cost per person in 10000 full stop

It is not that deep
Don't come and start saying it was Ramadan and some of the guests were fasting or some only drank water and did not eat some were pregnant etc


This Simple information is for the person paying for the taxpayer
How can you spend taxpayers money without transparency
Communication with the taxpayer in simple terms is crucial


Total money to be spent ÷ total number of kilometres =average cost per kilometre

9jatriot:
The bolded by Makinde is exactly what Umahi was saying, that the road is longer than those 3km roads that are in the same terrain, this one spans across different terrains and so cannot have a single cost per kilometer which even Makinde just confirmed, although inadvertently

Exactly.

Rufai was trying to set a trap for Umahi.

A 700 km road cutting across a multiplicity of topographies and terrains… How do you give a round figure of cost per km with the project not even 20% completed?

Cost overruns are commonplace in heavy projects. Trying to commit the minister to a set figure so early into the construction of the road is truly demented.

Rufai’s questions had NOTHING to do with his patriotism, but his spite and hate.

I have no idea why Umahi or ANY govt minister agrees to be harassed by that kid.

Umahi: How dare you? I'm a Professor in this field

Rufai: I didn't know you're a Professor, what University gave you Professorship in Engineering?

Umahi: 🤐🤐🤐🤐

Rufai: What University gave you Professorship?

Umahi: 😥😥😥😥

Rufai: Mr. Minister answer me na

Umahi: Your voice is breaking, I cannot hear you very well

Rufai: Minister Umahi, which university gave you Professorship in Engineering?

Umahi:...............I'm A Professor in practice🤦

SuperEagles:
But he was not the one caught red handed with over 250 million nairalooted from Anambra to gis house on Aerodomeroad in Apapa.

He is also not the one that looted millions of dollars into his daughter pandora account.

How your likes defend such criminal is what should baffle you nothing else.

Zombies always fabricates stories to justify their decisions.

aribisala0:
This is nonsense .


Budgeting 101.
How do you know you can afford it if you cannot cost it?
There Is no need for breakdown
You hold a party you host 100 people and spent 1 million
The cost per person in 10000 full stop

It is not that deep
Don't come and start saying it was Ramadan and some of the guests were fasting or some only drank water and did not eat some were pregnant etc


This Simple information is for the person paying for the taxpayer
How can you spend taxpayers money without transparency
Communication with the taxpayer in simple terms is crucial


Total money to be spent ÷ total number of kilometres =average cost per kilometre

You are wrong in the FIRST assumption you made, ie that prior to a project, an actual total cost of the project is known.

It’s never a cut-and-dry figure, and it’s usually cost estimates or cost spectra that are presented, eg 1.5 to 2 billion dollars etc, and even that is premised as subject to change.

Kemetian:
You are wrong in the FIRST assumption you made, ie that prior to a project, an actual total cost of the project is known.

It’s never a cut-and-dry figure, and it’s usually cost estimates or cost spectra that are presented, eg 1.5 to 2 billion dollars etc, and even that is premised as subject to change.

you and i know you wont be defending umahi if you dont have soft spot for APC or apc member..you will be all out for him like others if he was pdp or lp or any other party aside apc..what we are saying is reason like a common nigeria without party affiliation and your eyes will clear

Kemetian:
You are wrong in the FIRST assumption you made, ie that prior to a project, an actual total cost of the project is known.

It’s never a cut-and-dry figure, and it’s usually cost estimates or cost spectra that are presented, eg 1.5 to 2 billion dollars etc, and even that is premised as subject to change.

You are wrong in your assumption

I never used the word ACTUAL

So you can not manufacture an argument by putting words in my mouth

You just want to show yourself

Must you talk ?
If you must talk talk to facts don't create a fictional argument that doesn't exist

I was not talking to you
You just jump in to draw me into stuff I did not say

The point is simple before you start a project like this you must determine that we can afford it
And you must have a worst case scenario with a cap or maximum
We cannot spend the national budget on a road or give Umahi a blank cheque