Coalition of N’Delta Youths call for suspension of N1.8trn Lagos-Calabar coastal road project

A group, Niger Delta Youths Coalition for Peace and Progress, a group of youths from the oil-producing region, on Sunday, urged President Bola Tinubu to halt the N1.8 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal road project.

The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was given the responsibility of managing the construction of the 750-kilometer-long Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, which links Ibeju Lekki in Lagos State with the entire Niger Delta region with over 160 bridges.

Since 2014, the NDDC has spent about N25 billion on feasibility studies, project scope analyses, and in-depth technical research.

Pastor Jude Teidor, national president of NDYCPP, and George Okitikpi, national secretary of the group, jointly signed and released a statement on Sunday in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, saying it was only sensible for the project to be suspended to save waste.

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However, they expressed their reservations about the project’s latest advances, which they claimed would simply result in unnecessary duplication given the current lack of funding, while praising President Bola Tinubu’s dedication to national development.

The coalition argued that the Federal Ministry of Works, headed by Engineer David Umahi, was pursuing negotiations for new construction contracts on the East-West Coastal Road without involving the NDDC.

“This raised suspicions of a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement that would toll the road for years, potentially rendering previous NDDC efforts useless”, the statement said.

The group therefore urged President Tinubu to “direct the Federal Ministry of Works to involve the NDDC in further negotiations with Hitech Construction Company on the project and mandate the House of Representatives Committee on Works to closely monitor developments on the road project within four weeks”.

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