Makinde faults Umahi for evading question on cost per/km of Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has faulted  the Minister of Works, David Umahi for failing  to provide clear details on the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a multi-trillion-naira project approved by President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement on the 2026 budget in Ibadan, on Friday, October 10, Makinde faulted the Minister for evading questions about the project’s kilometre-by-kilometre cost when asked during a live television interview with Arise TV, Rufai Oseni, earlier in the week.

“How will they ask a minister how much is coastal road and you’re Dancing Around The Figures!” the governor retorted.

Makinde said the refusal to disclose details of the project cost raised public concern over transparency and accountability.

“When we constructed the Oyo-Iseyin road, it was about ten billion naira for thirty-five kilometres — roughly two hundred and thirty-eight million per kilometre. The Iseyin-Ogbomoso road cost forty-three billion naira for seventy-six kilometres, about five hundred million per kilometre. It is simple arithmetic,” Makinde said.

Umahi had clashed with an Arise TV presenter, Oseni, on Tuesday, October 7, after refusing to provide a detailed cost analysis of the project. Umahi maintained that comparing costs per kilometre was misleading since terrain, materials, and engineering designs differ along sections of the route.

“This project has not been fully designed, and the soil report is not yet complete.Each kilometre varies in cost because of the terrain and structures involved, ” Umahi said during the interview.

He said construction was ongoing across five states — Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River — and insisted that the government was following proper procedures to ensure value for money.