The Presidency has faulted a statement attributed to one-time Vice President and former Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as hollow.
Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said “To Atiku’s chagrin and utter disappointment, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has been rightly praised for the huge economic impact it will create and how it will be a game-changer in improving the quality of life of Nigerians, especially the economy of the nine coastal states it will pass through.”
Importantly, he said the road will boost agricultural and tourism economy on a grand scale. He added that Atiku Abubakar is a kill-joy, engaged in red-herring by raising ill-thought-out allegations that only exposed his inadequacies and those of his team in getting the basic facts on an issue he badly seeks to nail the government.
Onanuga said the Presidency has decided, to respond to Atiku’s misrepresentation of facts in matters of the coastal road to set the record straight so that unsuspecting Nigerians are not misled and misinformed. “We owe it a sacred duty to ensure Atiku and his handlers do not continue to spread disinformation as they wallow in their politics of hatred.”
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“Contrary to the claims in Atiku’s endorsed press statement, at no time did the administrations of former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan award contracts for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway to any company at any varied and revised amount. So the question of costs comparison does not arise.”
He added that the contract that was awarded was that of Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail. The rail was designed as part of the standard guage national rail network. The contract was awarded on August 4, 2021 by the Federal Executive Council presided over by former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the cost of $11.17billion and it was to be completed in six years. The project however didn’t take off.
He explained that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway and Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail are two distinct projects, adding it is unfortunate that the former Vice President confused the two projects.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
