Publish Audit Of The Entire Coastal Highway Project’s Costs, Makinde Campaign Tells Tinubu

The Makinde-Daura Presidential Campaign Organisation (MDPCO) has demanded that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu publish a comprehensive audit of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, following the Federal Government’s decision to re-route the road.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, the Director-General of the MDPCO, Hon. Felix Hassan Hyat, described the administration as disoriented and said the re-routing of the highway, awarded at a cost of Fifteen

Trillion Naira (N15 trillion), has raised fresh questions about the project.

Hyat said the announcement by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, of the realignment of the route has brought to the fore allegations of technical incompetence, policy inconsistency and lack of transparency.

“It is appalling that Minister Umahi, in a desperate bid to contain the gathering storm of public outrage, brazenly denied his earlier announcement of a presidential directive to realign the highway despite overwhelming video evidence of that announcement. Such denial is unbecoming of a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Hyat said.

He said the afterthought realignment is an admission of failure of proper planning and gross underestimation of engineering challenges.

“The vague reasons of climate change and environmental challenges adduced by Minister Umahi at this point beg the question. It only confirms that the Tinubu administration embarked on this huge project without the required statutory environmental impact assessment, in gross violation of our extant laws,” he stated.

Hyat recalled that the project was awarded in 2024 without an approved engineering design, without a transparent, open and competitive bidding process as required by the Public Procurement Act 2007, and without budgetary provision and statutory appropriation by the National Assembly.

He said the award to a company whose corporate group is linked to a firm where individuals allegedly linked to the Presidency sit on the board raises conflict-of-interest concerns.

“Moreover, the fact that after re-directing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to an already existing road, the Federal Government has remained silent on the expected plunge in the cost raises issues of financial accountability,” he added.

The campaign organisation said Nigerians should judge the development against the backdrop of pervasive poverty, energy crisis, soaring food prices and hike in university tuition fees.

“Political power is legitimate only when exercised for the public good. The controversies surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway raise a fundamental question as to whose interests the project ultimately serves – the Nigerian people or those in power?” Hyat asked.

He demanded immediate disclosure of procurement and financial records.

“We demand that the President Tinubu-led government should publish the relevant engineering assessment, alternative-route analysis, accompanying cost implications and comprehensive audit of the work and amount so far spent,” he said.

Hyat said Nigerians are tired of official assurances without verifiable evidence, particularly against allegations that the contract was designed as a conduit for financing APC’s election expenses.

The MDPCO therefore demanded: “An immediate publication of all relevant procurement and payment records, and an independent engineering assessment of the Ondo realignment, as well as a comprehensive audit of the entire project’s costs, amount so far spent and further execution plan. Nigeria is in dire need of infrastructure, no doubt, but not opaque contracts and expensive excuses,” Hyat said.

He urged Nigerians to reject President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, saying the President has failed in his campaign promises and plunged the nation into economic crisis.

“We call on Nigerians to continue in their support for the presidential candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM), Engr. Seyi Makinde, as the only viable alternative, whose leadership prowess, as encapsulated in the RESET NIGERIA Agenda, offers a compelling vision for national renewal,” he added.