The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has launched a scathing attack on the Federal Government over the reported N7.5 billion per kilometre cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, demanding an immediate international forensic audit of what it described as a “monumental economic heist against Nigerians.”
In a strongly worded statement issued by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the group said revelations by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, had intensified public suspicion surrounding one of Nigeria’s most controversial infrastructure projects.
Umahi had disclosed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is costing an average of N7.5 billion per kilometre, insisting the project is a long-term investment designed to last for decades due to its reinforced concrete pavement, drainage architecture and other engineering components.
But HURIWA said the figure was “outrageous, economically provocative and morally offensive,” especially at a time millions of Nigerians are battling severe hardship, inflation, unemployment and worsening insecurity.
The association accused the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu of presiding over what it called an opaque and reckless spending regime while citizens struggle under rising food prices, collapsing purchasing power and increasing debt burdens.
“At a time citizens can barely survive rising food prices, unaffordable transportation costs and astronomical electricity tariffs, Nigerians are being told to accept a road project costing N7.5 billion for every kilometre constructed,” the group stated.
HURIWA argued that comparative highway projects in countries such as China, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and the United States are often delivered at lower costs despite superior technology, stricter regulations and more advanced engineering standards.
The rights group therefore called on the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigeria Labour Congress, anti-corruption organisations, civil society groups, economists, engineers and development experts to jointly establish an independent accountability coalition to investigate the project.
According to the association, the proposed probe should examine procurement procedures, engineering valuation reports, loan arrangements, tolling concessions, environmental impact assessments, compensation payments and the identities of all contractors and financial beneficiaries connected to the highway project.
HURIWA also demanded that the Freedom of Information Act be deployed to compel the release of all contractual and financial documents linked to the project.
The group expressed further concern over comments credited to Umahi suggesting that regions benefiting from federal infrastructure projects should politically reciprocate support to the President in future elections.
It warned that public infrastructure funded with taxpayers’ money should never be reduced to political patronage or electoral bargaining tools.
“For a serving minister to imply that regions should politically repay the President for executing federally funded projects raises serious constitutional and ethical concerns,” the statement added.
HURIWA subsequently called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission and the National Assembly to immediately scrutinise all financial and procurement processes linked to the project.
The association also urged the government to suspend further disbursements on the coastal highway pending what it described as a comprehensive forensic review and public accountability hearings.
It maintained that public scrutiny of government spending is a democratic necessity and not an act of political hostility.