Quick Reads:
- Umahi says the coastal highway will be delivered as scheduled
- He responds directly to Donald Duke’s claim the road “would never go beyond Epe”
- Section one (Victoria Island to Elepe) is already complete
- Section two is 70% done; sections 3A and 3B are 30% complete
- A new 100-kilometre stretch is currently at design stage
Dave Umahi, minister of works, has fired back at critics of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, declaring that President Bola Tinubu will deliver the 700-kilometre project exactly as promised, and that those doubting it are simply driven by envy.
Speaking on Thursday during an inspection of ongoing works at the Ondo section of the road in Ilaje local government area, Umahi took direct aim at recent remarks by former Cross River governor Donald Duke, who had suggested the coastal highway would “never go beyond Epe” and questioned whether the project was even a government priority.
“I respectfully disagree,” Umahi said, pushing back on the claim. He argued that the coastal highway had been on the drawing board for years but stalled repeatedly due to funding gaps, not lack of political will. According to him, the renewed criticism trailing the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway has less to do with genuine concern and more to do with envy from people who never believed Tinubu could pull it off.
Describing the president as “the man who tamed the Atlantic Ocean,” Umahi called him a “divine President” capable of finishing what others thought impossible.
On the actual construction, the minister gave a detailed progress update. Section one, covering 7.47 kilometres from Victoria Island to Elepe village, is complete. Section two, a 50-kilometre stretch running from Lagos to the Ogun border, is roughly 70 percent done. Sections 3A and 3B, spanning about 67 kilometres, are at 30 percent completion, while section four, 82 kilometres stretching from Ogun into Ondo state, is also progressing. Section five, covering around 180 kilometres through Akwa Ibom, is expected to be the longest stretch of the entire highway.
Umahi added that another 100-kilometre segment beyond the Ondo section is currently at design stage, with only the Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta State portions left to plan after that.
He also addressed claims that the route was deliberately diverted away from the Ondo coastline to spite a particular community. Umahi explained that the original design hugged the shoreline but ran into a serious engineering obstacle: thick layers of “peat,” a soft, unstable soil that in some areas extended 40 to 50 metres deep. In Lagos, the peat problem was manageable at around 20 metres, but along the Ondo coastline it was too deep to work with economically, forcing engineers to reroute inland. Sea sand meant for construction also turned out to be unsuitable, he said.
