YPP candidate urges National Assembly to summon Umahi over highway cost

The presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Arch. Peter Agada, has called on the National Assembly to summon the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to explain the ₦15.6 trillion cost of the 770-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Agada, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday, questioned the cost of the project.

He argued that the government needed to provide Nigerians with a clear breakdown of the amount and explain how it was determined.

He described the price tag as excessive and called for greater transparency in the execution of the highway project.

“Nigerians deserve value for money, not a project whose cost defies global reality,” Agada said.

The YPP candidate compared the highway’s reported cost with estimates for other major road projects across Africa, arguing that the difference raised questions about the government’s costing process.

He claimed that Nigeria was spending about $11.2 billion on the 770-kilometre highway, while the estimated cost of the 10,000-kilometre Cairo-Cape Town Trans-African Highway was about $3 billion.

Agada also cited the Cape Town-Dakar corridor, which he said was estimated to cost between $4 billion and $5 billion despite covering about 11,000 to 11,500 kilometres.

He challenged the Federal Ministry of Works to publish the project’s cost per kilometre, the Environmental Impact Assessment report for the mangrove corridor, and an explanation for the decision to use the coastal route instead of the inland alignment in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Trans-African Highway Master Plan.

According to him, the proposed route through mangrove areas and protected forest zones also raises environmental concerns that should be addressed publicly.

Agada further called for an explanation of the project’s financial arrangements and the standards used to determine its total cost.