Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, has denounced the Lagos-Calabar Highway project that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is pursuing.
The former president claims that the project is crooked and wasteful, with a projected final cost of N15.6 trillion.
Additionally, he called the N21 billion construction of the vice president’s official mansion wasteful.
In chapter six of his new book, “Nigeria: Past and Future,” the former Nigerian leader revealed this, stating that the primary reason Nigerian leaders assume office is to embezzle and profit themselves.
“It is my turn to chop,” he remarked, adding that everything is supposedly transactional.
The dirty Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road, where the President ignored protests, and the new Vice-President’s official residence, which was constructed at a cost of N21 billion during a period of economic hardship to demonstrate the administration’s rapid progress and the significance of the Vice-President’s position, are typical examples of waste, corruption, and misaligned priorities. What dimwits!
Bayo Onanuga, the president’s spokesperson for Tinubu, has not yet responded to Obasanjo’s most recent criticism of his principal.
Remember how the Nigerian populace was deeply divided over the Lagos-Calabar Highway and the new vice president’s residential developments?
Concerns with the proposal were also voiced by Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential contender in the 2023 election, who called for its suspension.
Nonetheless, the projects were defended by Tinubu’s administration.
Additionally, Dave Umahi, the Minister of Work, had defended the project on multiple occasions.
He recently declared that in May 2025, 30 of the 70 kilometers of the Lagos-Calabar Highway phase 1, Section 1 will be finished.
Last March, the Lagos-Calabar Highway project got underway.