Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has criticized minister of works David Umahi’s actions over the cost of the controversial Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project that was approved by President Bola Tinubu.
Speaking at an event in a widely shared video on Friday, Makinde claimed that David Umahi, the Minister of Works, didn’t need to be “dancing around the cost” of the project.
The governor was responding to a heated argument between David Umahi and Arise TV host Rufai Oseni that was broadcast live on television on Tuesday.
Recall that in social media clips making rounds, Oseni had asked the minister to provide a kilometer-by-kilometer analysis of the project’s cost, however the question quickly diffused into a heated altercation.
In the clip, it appeared that the request didn’t sit well with David Umahi, who declared himself “professor” of practice in engineering while elaborating that the costs of the road in kilometres are not the same and would be too complicated for the journalist to understand.
He said, “These are elementary questions. And it makes no sense (sic). A process is ongoing, payment has been made, and you are saying, ‘how has this money been utilised?. The money is meant for the project, and it will be paid according to the work done.
“When a certificate is generated, and it is approved through a process in the Ministry of Works, it will then be given to the funders, who will, in turn, check if the works were done. How can you be asking for cost of kilometre? The prices are different. The next kilometre is different from the next kilometre.
However, justifying the journalist’s question to the minister, Makinde said, “They asked a minister how much is the coastal road is, and then you (Umahi) are dancing around and going to say that no, the next kilometre is different from the next kilometres. Then what is the average cost?
“When we did the Oyo to Iseyin road then, it was about N9.99 billion, almost N10 billion. About 34 or 35 kilometres, average cost is about N238 million per kilometre.
“But when we did Iseyin to Ogbomoso, that was 76 kilometres, it was about N43 billion, average cost is about N500 million per kilometre. And we had two bridges, one over the Ogun river and then one at Ogbomoso end.”
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