The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has been called out by netizens after announcing that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be rerouted through the existing East-West road from Ondo into Edo State
According to Umahi, the directive, which was issued by President Bola Tinubu, was intended to prevent the construction of a new alignment along the corridor.
“Divert; do not do any new alignments. Pass the coastal highway through the existing East-West road,” the minister quoted Tinubu as saying.
The minister then defended the decision, saying it was taken to avoid difficult terrain, which might require extensive filling work.
“I am aware of petitions against me saying I diverted the Ondo section. I welcome that,” he said.
“But the important thing is whether you are doing the right thing or the wrong thing. We have no regret for decisions taken in Ondo.”
“We had to take a very serious engineering decision by making a detour, redesigning it to avoid such route,” he said.
However, many netizens rejected the minister's announcement, saying Ondo, Delta, and Bayelsa states are being sidelined from the coastal project.
An X user, @PastorMarvy, said, "Engineers were able to reclaim land from the Atlantic Ocean to build Eko Atlantic and the Lagos/Ogun section of the coastal road but somehow, the Ondo-Calabar is suddenly too difficult for the same engineers to overcome. Umahi should come out and tell us the truth!"
@Alkaneseries said, "Re-routing the coastal highway inland and bypassing Ondo’s coastal belt, while retaining coastal-level expenditure, is indefensible. How does an inland route through existing corridors carry the same cost as marine engineering over peat and coastal terrain? Bypassing Ondo’s coastline invalidates the project’s original economic mandate. Time for fresh, competent leadership at the Ministry of Works. I will replace David Umahi with Wike."
@IkwerreConserv said, "Umahi, this is a mess and it must be called to order. A stretch of the coastal road was supposed to go through Ogoni,what is the President doing? Is there politics involved?"
@OpeBee said, "It’s hard to defend this decision. This is not tenable. This is very disappointing from Umahi"
@Manlike_ED said, "This is the first time I supported something that ended up failing the masses and breaching trust, all thanks to Dave Umahi. Pres. Tinubu better order Umahi to go back to the original plan of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road."
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