Lagos-Calabar coastal highway cost: ‘You don’t need to wait till Friday’, Atiku’s camp fires fresh shot

Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has tackled the Minister of Works, David Umahi, for failing to immediately disclose the full cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project.

Atiku, who was the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, had on Tuesday asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reveal the cost of the project.

He said the Tinubu administration could not continue to keep silent on how much public funds would be spent on the project at a time when Nigeria was facing dire economic challenges.

Reacting, Umahi, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna, promised to disclose to the public the total cost and breakdown of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project on Friday.

He said, “He (Atiku Abubakar) doesn’t understand figures. I am going to run figures for him to understand, and he will understand how prudent the administration of President Tinubu has been. I will do that in a press conference on my visit to Lagos from April 10, 2024 to April 12, 2024.”

Weighing in on Wednesday morning, Shaibu, in a post via X tackled the minister saying: “Why on earth does David Umahi need these number of days to cough up the price tag for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project? Oh, right, just to make sure those figures are nicely seasoned with ‘shaki’, ‘ponmo’ and other ‘orishirishi’ before serving them up.

“I mean, seriously, a minute should suffice to fish out the cost from that so-called ‘PPP’ pact with Hitech. But hey, who’s counting, right? Certainly not Umahi!”