The Presidency on Monday faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s comments on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, describing them as a “misrepresentation of facts.”
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway and Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail are two distinct projects. It is unfortunate that the former Vice President is confused about the two projects…we urge him to return to the library for real facts,” the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, said in a statement he signed Monday.
Onanuga was responding to Atiku’s allegation that President Bola Tinubu puts personal business interests before Nigeria’s Infrastructure growth.
The former Vice President said the Tinubu administration is engaged in questionable dealings amidst developing the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
But the Presidency spotted inconsistencies in Atiku’s comments, saying that the former Vice President had allowed himself to be led into a blind alley again by his poorly informed aides.
The statement is titled ‘Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: Atiku Abubakar makes his hollow point again.’
“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 cost comparison does not arise.
“The contract that was awarded was for Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail. The rail was designed as part of the standard gauge 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, SAN, at $11.17bn. The contract was to be completed in six years. The project didn’t take off.
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal rail project has always been on the card. It was another testament to the failure of the previous PDP-led government that it could not get it off the ground in 16 years it held sway,” Onanuga argued.
