Lagos-Calabar Highway Project: Tinubu Awarded Contract To Business Partner – Atiku

…Says project shrouded in secrecy

…President’s N20trn Renewed Hope fund, avenue to siphon money

Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar said President Bola Tinubu re-awarded the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway contract to his business partner, Gilbert Chagoury.

Chagoury is the owner of Hitech Construction Company Limited, which the Minister of Works Dave Umahi, would execute the contract.

Atiku in a statement on Sunday by the coordinator of his media office Paul Ibe, said the president is violating his oath of office by awarding the contract to a company he has a business interest.

“It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners.

“Tinubu has once again put his personal business interest ahead of that of the Nigerian people in violation of his oath of office,” he said.

The former vice president who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election, noted that the project which was initiated in November 2014 by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration at the cost of $11.97 billion, was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

It was to cover 10 states, he said, noting that the project could not take off before Jonathan left office.

“But his successor, former President Muhammadu Buhari expressed his intention to begin it and announced in 2016 that the project had been renegotiated downward by $800 million to $11.1 billion and that it would be ready within three years,” he added.

It was again stalled, even after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) ratified the contract in August 2021 with a competition period of six years.

Atiku recalled that Umahi told Nigerians that the project would be executed at zero cost to the nation, only for him to return “to FEC with a memo in March 2024 seeking the approval of N1.06 trillion that would be paid to Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project which is wholly in Lagos.”

He quoted Umahi to have told Nigerians, that “it is under public-private partnership. The Hitech group are going to look for the money. They have already found the money, and that is the good news because we don’t waste our time talking and holding meetings and wasting resources.”

According to him, the project was awarded without competitive bidding or FEC approval, noting instead of 10 states that were the initial plan, Umahi said the project would run through nine states and a rail road running through the middle.

Atiku argued that the concept of build, operate and transfer, is that the

Hitech Construction Company Limited, would construct the road, operate it for some years and then recoup its money through tollgates before handing it back to the Nigerian government.

He alleged that the N1.06 trillion Umahi was seeking FEC approval and would be paid to Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project which is wholly in Lagos.

“This pilot phase was to begin from the edge of Chagoury’s Eko Atlantic City on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, and terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Ibeju-Lekki, a distance of 47.47km.

“Till date, the Tinubu administration has refused to reveal how much the project will cost in total. Umahi, who even came on Channels Television recently, evaded questions as to the total cost of the project,” he stated.

The former PDP candidate contended that if 47.47km would cost about N1.06 trillion, “It means each kilometre is being built at N22.5 billion or $18 million.

“For a project that is going to be 700km, it means the total cost could be N15.7 trillion or $12.56 billion, which is higher than previous estimates.”

He expressed the fear that the project would lead to loss of jobs, pointing out that the demolition of Landmark Beach Resort in Oniru would lead to the loss of over 12,000 direct and indirect jobs and over $200 million in investments, according to its management.

“More curious is the fact that the entire pilot phase of this project begins and ends in Lagos, especially within the axis of Bola Tinubu’s business interests.

Atiku alleged that Hitech company owned by Chagoury, was unable to complete the 50km Lekki-Epe expressway.

According to him, “Despite installing two tollgates along the axis, Hitech which was part of the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) consortium was only able to construct about 20km, forcing the Lagos State Government to buy it back at the cost of N7.5 billion ($50 million at the time) in 2013, which came at a loss to the people of Lagos,” he added.

The former vice president further argued that the pilot phase from Eko Atlantic to Lekki Deep Sea Port was initially conceived as a Lagos State government project, adding that the Federal Government is now implementing it under the guise of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.

“This perhaps explains why there are fears that the project will never get to Calabar, and this is the same reason the project is beginning from Lagos and not Calabar,” Atiku said.

He alleged that the proposed setting up of the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund by the Tinubu administration was targeted at constructing capital projects without the usual budgeting process.

The fund, according to him, which aims at raising N20 trillion or $14.5 billion as seed capital, “targets pension funds, concessionary loans, insurance companies, Sovereign Wealth Funds, private sector arms of multilateral development institutions, and bilateral private sector investors, among others, to secure $35 billion annually.

“The Diaspora funding and equity and endowment funds are also expected to play their part in the plan.”

Atiku further alleged that the renewed Hope fund would be spent at the discretion of Tinubu and without transparency, and “will likely become another means of siphoning public funds through shady projects.

“With the current Lagos-Calabar highway already being handled in secrecy, it remains to be seen how such a fund will be managed.”