Following the eyebrows raised on the N15 trillion Lagos-Calabar highway, the House of Representatives Thursday passed a resolution to unravel the circumstances surrounding the contract award.
The motion was moved by Honourable Austin Achado representing Gwer East/Gwer West Federal Constituency, Benue State. The House noted that the award of the contract violated the 2007 Procurement and that certain approvals by the National Assembly as required by the law were not given.
The House has asked the minister of works, finance, attorney general, and minister of justice, to avail the National Assembly copies of the documents for award of the contract.
“ The House is disturbed that the contingent liabilities accruing to the Federal Government of Nigeria on this project violate the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act of 2023, as Section 22(3) states that the minister shall not guarantee an external loan unless the terms and conditions of the loan shall have been laid before the National Assembly and approved by its resolution. The guarantees issued to cover the debt financing component of this project do not have the approval of this National Assembly,” Hon Achado, a member of the All Progressives Congress stated during his submission.
“The Federal Ministry of Works has executed an engineering procurement construction finance contract, in favor of Hitech Construction Company Nigeria Limited, for the delivery of the 700km Lagos to Calabar coastal road and rail project estimated at a rate of N4.33bn per kilometre, using reinforced concrete technology for a carriage width of 59.7metres, to include 10 lanes, shoulders and rail with additional designs of service ducts, street lights, drainages and shore protection.”
The 700 km Lagos-Calabar coastal road will be constructed for N15trn, and a kilometre of the road will cost N4 billion. It is designed to connect Lagos to Cross River, passing through Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom states, before culminating in Cross River.
The project has been heavily criticised by many Nigerians including the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, who described it as a misplaced priority by the Federal Government.
Also, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, had described the project as a fraud, a comment which was refuted by the Presidency.
