*Says project awarded to CCECC at N11.97bn, given to Chagoury on undisclosed contract sum
*Alleges Tinubu violated his oath of office
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has Sunday made high flaunting allegations of corruption against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu regarding the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
According to the former presidential flagbearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the 10-state, 22-station project previously awarded to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of $11.97bn during the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2014, had been awarded to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited (Hitech) without any record of a competitive bidding or a decision by Federal Executive Council (FEC), neither is the total cost of the contract disclosed.
Atiku, in a statement by Paul Ibe, Coordinator, Atiku Media Office, Abuja, on Sunday, 7th April, 2024, noted that with the development, “the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has again inadvertently revealed its penchant for dubious and shady deals”.
The former number two citizen noted that the project which returned to public discourse at the twilight of the Goodluck Jonathan administration in November 2014 at a cost of $11.97bn, was renegotiated downward to $800m to $11.1bn during the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration in 2016, wondering why President Tinubu decided to make it a mystery contract by hiding the contract costs.
According to Atiku: “In September 2023, barely weeks after being appointed by Tinubu, Works Minister, Engr. Dave Umahi announced that the project had been awarded to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech Construction Company Limited (Hitech) without any record of a competitive bidding or a decision by FEC.
“Umahi refused to reveal how much the project would cost. He only explained that it would run through nine states and would have a rail road running through the middle.
“Most importantly, the Works Minister said the project would come at zero cost to Nigeria, which is currently facing an all-time high level of debt”.
He stated that by Umahi saying that “it is under public-private partnership. The Hitech group are going to look for the money. They have already found the money,” showed contradictions already.
He said that under Tinubu’s arrangement, the projecr “did not go through approval from the National Assembly, which holds the power of appropriation. The project only went through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) with no record of a competitive bidding, since Chagoury’s firm was to fund the project 100%.
“”However, to the shock of many Nigerians, Umahi returned to FEC with a memo in March 2024 seeking the approval of N1.06 trillion that would be paid to Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project which is wholly in Lagos.
“This pilot phase was to begin from the edge of Chagoury’s Eko Atlantic City on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island, and terminate at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Ibeju-Lekki, a distance of 47.47km.
“Till date, the Tinubu administration has refused to reveal how much the project will cost in total.
“Umahi, who even came on Channels Television recently, evaded questions as to the total cost of the project.
“But, if 47.47km costs about N1.06tn, it means each kilometre is being built at N22.5 billion or $18 million.
“For a project that is going to be 700km, it means the total cost could be N15.7 trillion or $12.56 billion, which is higher than previous estimates.
“It is curious that the terms of such an audacious project continues to be shrouded in secrecy,” Atiku stressed.
He noted that aside from 12,000 direct and indirect job loses and over $200m in investments with the planned demolition of Landmark Beach Resort in Oniru, “more curious is the fact that the entire pilot phase of this project begins and ends in Lagos, especially within the axis of Bola Tinubu’s business interests.
“It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners”.
Atiku made allegations on how the same Hitech, owned by Chagoury, was unable to complete the 50km Lekki-Epe Expressway.
“Despite installing two tollgates along the axis, Hitech which was part of the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) consortium was only able to construct about 20km, forcing the Lagos State Government to buy it back at the cost of N7.5 billion ($50 million at the time) in 2013 which came at a loss to the people of Lagos”.
According to the forner Vice-President, “Tinubu has once again put his personal business interest ahead of that of the Nigerian people in violation of his oath of office where he swore that ‘I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions’.
“The so-called pilot phase from Eko Atlantic to Lekki Deep Sea Port was initially conceived as a Lagos State Government project, but because of its huge cost, coupled with the fact that Lagos State has a huge debt burden no thanks to Tinubu, the Federal Government is now implementing it under the guise of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
“This perhaps explains why there are fears that the project will never get to Calabar, and this is the same reason the project is beginning from Lagos and not Calabar.
“Despite not revealing the cost of this entire project, the Tinubu administration is now on the verge of setting up a so-called Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, a fund targeted at constructing capital projects without the usual budgeting process.
“With a target of N20 trillion or $14.5 billion as seed capital, the fund targets the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway and other projects.
“The initiative targets Pension Funds, Concessionary Loans, insurance companies, Sovereign Wealth Funds, private sector arms of multilateral development institutions, and bilateral private sector investors, among others, to secure $35bn annually.
“The Diaspora funding and equity and endowment funds are also expected to play their part in the plan.
“But this Renewed Hope Fund, which will be spent at the discretion of Tinubu and without transparency, will likely become another means of siphoning public funds through shady projects”.
