Minister of Works, David Umahi, has warned that the 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway may remain uncompleted if President Bola Tinubu fails to win a second term in the 2027 general elections.
Speaking on Friday, October 23, during an exclusive interview on Arise Television, Umahi stated that the major infrastructure project is a personal initiative of President Tinubu that requires administrative continuity to be fully delivered.
He maintained that only the president’s re-election can guarantee the execution of the coastal road alongside other federal legacy projects.
“If President Tinubu does not come back in 2027 (God forbid), the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway will be gone. “The 750-kilometre coastal highway is intact and cannot be changed, and nobody has the powers to change it, because it’s already designed and it’s ongoing,” Umahi said.
Addressing reports alleging that the coastal project had been abandoned in favor of the East-West Road, the former Ebonyi State governor dismissed the claims as false.
He disclosed that President Tinubu approved an additional 400-kilometre reconstruction of the East-West Road spanning Edo to Cross River State, directing contractors to integrate the route into the existing corridor rather than clearing entirely new alignments.
Umahi attributed route adjustments along the alignment to challenging terrain in Ondo State, where construction crews encountered deep pits exceeding 100 meters and an absence of sharp sand up to 300 meters below the surface.