The former chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Honourable Kingsley Kuku, has commended President Bola Tinubu for demonstrating the political will to construct the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing the project as a long-standing Niger Delta development aspiration dating back to the 1950s.
Speaking in an interview, Kuku said the coastal highway project was a longstanding development aspiration in the Niger Delta, dating back to the 1950s, when Nigeria’s first Finance Minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, proposed a coastal transport corridor to connect communities in the region with Lagos and other parts of the country.
“Taking you back all the way to 1955, the late first finance minister of this country, Nigeria, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, was the first person to ever suggest the idea of a coastal road. And then, it was talking about a transport corridor from Koko to Oghara, and from Oghara to Lagos. Then, unfortunately, it passed during the first coup.
“Nobody has gone directly into these issues until the current president, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and he has taken the bull by the horn. He has shown political will, and he said, ‘I am going to construct Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway,’ and he has started.”
Speaking on former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke’s criticism of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Kuku argued that Nigeria could afford the project, noting that Duke had also relied on loans to execute projects such as Tinapa and Obudu Ranch during his tenure as governor.
“Governor Duke is not President of Nigeria. He’s a presidential candidate of his party. At this point—yes, of course, it’s a sitting president, and the president says, ‘I’ll be able to do it.’ We need to—for us, the Niger Delta people, we support the president, President Tinubu. We encourage him to go ahead. We support him. And because we believe, with his political will, that this is possible—that it is truly possible.
“When Donald Duke became governor in 1999 at the age of 37, he came up with Tinapa. He came up with Obudu Ranch. He came up with the Calabar Festival. Projects that at that time, a lot of people thought were not possible. What did he do? He provided state contribution, he got loans.
“So loans are not—are not distinctly something different that President Tinubu is doing. When you get a loan, what are you doing with the loan? And President Tinubu is investing these loans into the coastal road.”
Insisting that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway should maintain its original route, Kuku urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate the East-West Road separately rather than divert the coastal project to align with it. He also stressed the need for consultations with relevant stakeholders and affected communities, including on land acquisition, environmental safeguards and compensation, before committing about $1.8 billion to the project.
“But for me, for me, I expect that before government would commit about $1.8 billion into a project like this, consultations would have been done with relevant stakeholders, and further consultations would be done.
“Why are we talking about expensiveness of connecting these people to humanity, to civilization? It is unfair. It is an insult to say that it will be expensive. Terrain cannot even be a reason why development must not get to people. Why do we have a government?
“Who actually wants anybody to overrule him or rule over him? What government is meant to be in society is that there are problems, and we cannot solve all of them at a time. And a group of persons are elected or appointed to deal with this problem.”
He reaffirmed his support for President Tinubu’s decision to proceed with the project, urging the Federal Government to preserve its coastal alignment and rehabilitate the East-West Road as a separate project.
“You need political will to construct roads like this, highways like this. And President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has shown exactly just that. For me, I am with him on all fours on this. I will support the president. My people will support the president. The Niger Delta people are happy about this project.
“The only thing we are saying: do not divert that road as coastal highway. And join it, align it with East-West Road. Rehabilitate the East-West Road, construct the coastal highway, and connect the coastal communities of the Niger Delta to the hinterland. This is all we are saying.
“Bayelsa State has the possibility of the coastal highway passing through its creeks, its swamps—nothing will stop them.”
Favour Odima
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