18/04/2024
This Week's Episode on The Boulevards with Gbolahan Badru
Lagos-Calabar Highway Project: The Matters Arising
A lot has dominated our national headlines since our last meeting. The urge to focus on one issue was constantly overridden by another. From the peeping shadows of Betta Edu’s Humanitarian Grants’ saga, to the ever-relentless EFCC hot pursuit of Former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele, then to the resurfacing of the former Accountant-General of the Federation’s 109 Billion Naira IPPIS Fraud, to the uplifting stories of Mrs. Nnenna’s BSc in Law, and then the 'hide and seek' masquerade of Ganduje. From Lagos state being motherless for 6 months to the broad daylight's ruling party's refusal to obey the court's order on Ganduje's suspension as the APC’s national party chairman, to the persistent rise in the country's inflation rate amidst Cardoso's abracadabra at the CBN, the reappearance of CAN demanding the release of the remaining Chibok girls, to the Street's Priest appearing before the legal Priest for alleged Naira Mutilation, and then The White Lion's 'EFCC, Catch Me if You Can' scenario.
Everyday, the Republic of Lamba appears like a heaving hive of riotous fecundity, straining tirelessly towards giving birth to the next monstrosity of a demon. Comedians here don’t need to brainstorm for content; they simply observe the political theater and report the facts. It's one encrypted ugly phenomenon after another, making us feel we are some sort of an alchemist like Paulo Coelho, embarking on a voyage of discoveries. We are the crippled giant, and we derive joy, humility and pride in being addressed as such.
The President demands commitment, sincerity, uprightness and accountability from everyone entrusted by him with political roles and offices. He charges everyone to respect the oath they took when assuming these roles and offices, but it seems the President forgot that it’s he who pelts others with pebbles who asks for rock in return.
The President seems not to be morally fit to cast the first stone when it comes to charging his cabinet members with sincerity. This is evident in the various levels of policies circumventing and somersaulting experienced in an administration that arrogantly announced that it was going to hit the ground running.
The CNG buses are still doing their normal work-out routines, waiting relentlessly for the six-packs and curvy shapes they aspire to manifest. The 25,000 Naira subsidy palliatives to 15 million households remains a child that refuses to grow, the fuel subsidy that was announced gone still grapples from the nation’s treasury an amount close to a trillion Naira every month and then just when the decision was made to float the Naira, the government is systematically and technically back defending it. One wonders what magic Cardoso is performing in Abuja with the sharp appreciation of the Naira against the Dollars at a time when 90% of what we consume are not locally produced and when Nigeria is the third largest economic partner of the US in Sub-Saharan Africa. The present administration seems to share a striking resemblance with Neo-colonialism. It pours an old wine in a new cup and calls it, “exquisite!”.
Few days back, Atiku Abubakar, alleged that President Bola Tinubu puts personal business motives before public interests, by engaging in questionable dealings in the construction of the 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway after its commencement was announced by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi in the first week of April, this year.
Umahi said that the contractor commenced work following the formal handover of the initial phase of the project, comprising 47.47 kilometres of dual carriageway, to Hitech Construction Company Ltd.
In reaction to Umahi’s announcement, Atiku, via his Media Coordinator raised questions that beg satisfying answers. Of course, one would conclude that being a gentleman approach of inquiry, Umahi had been presented with a perfect forum to flaunt his transparent and sincere commitment- the ones they were charged with by the Mr. President.
Atiku asked why the FG refused to reveal the cost of the project. He asked if the project went through the normal competitive bidding, and why Julius Berger, RCC Construction Company and CCECC Nigeria Limited were not allowed to bid for the contract.
Atiku continued, arguing that due to the fact that the project did not require public funds, it did not go through approval from the National Assembly, which holds the power of appropriation and approval. The project only went through the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission with no record of a competitive bidding since Chagoury’s firm was to fund the project 100 per cent.
However, he asked for the reason Dave Umahi returned to Federal Executive Council with a memo in March 2024, seeking the approval of N1.06tn that would be paid to Chagoury’s firm for the first phase of the project which is wholly in Lagos. Ashtabula!
But Atiku gave a rough mathematical analysis of this ‘fiasco’. Pardons! He provided that if 47.47km costs about N1.06tn, it means each kilometre is being built at N22.5bn or $18m. For a project that is going to be 700km, it means the total cost could be N15.7tn or $12.56bn, which will be higher than previous estimates, flaunting his rejection of the whole idea on the ground that 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 seems Atiku was trying to take us back to our Pol101 class where politics was defined by an African political philosopher as “the art of governing mankind by fooling them” or where another philosopher said that it’s the “art of translating private motives as public interests.”
It is no secret that both Tinubu and Chagoury are business partners.
He seems to be asking about the ownership of HITECH. He seemed to be asking if they had ever undertaken a coastal road construction before. He seemed to be asking what their share capital is. He seemed to be asking why the federal government released funds for the project if the govt is going to be in a public private partnership with HITECH and will be “100% funded by Hitech” as Umahi claimed. He seemed to be asking why the company did not start with its own fund, being the status quo of any ideal capitalist initiative.
He seemed to be asking why the Federal Executive Council approved 1.6 trillion Naira for the project, only for Dave Umahi to say that a kilometre of the road will cost 4 Billion Naira, hence, 700km multiplied by how much a kilometre will cost will be equal to = 2.8 trillion Naira.
Dave Umahi, in a counter-claim to this, did an excellent job even though it’s still cast with shadows of doubts and curiosity amidst the Atiku’s onslaught. Umahi seems to be claiming that the project falls under what legal luminaries refer to as “Sui Generis”. That is, something in a class of its own.
He said that the road would cost 4 billion per kilometer, even though he shied away from telling us why the government approved over a trillion since the govt was only to pay 15 to 13% contribution.
Mathematically, 4 x 700 billion should be equal to 2.8 Trillion.
Umahi also suggested that the government’s percentage contribution was still being negotiated. One wonders why they were in such a hurry to wrap and kick-start the deal.
In another funny circumstance, Umahi said that there was actually no bidding. He said that HITECH was invited because it has special ability and expertise to construct coastal roads. This was even when Hitech had never been awarded a coastal road construction project in Niger before. He didn’t tell us why a reputable and long-time construction company like Julius Berger was not even invited for bidding. There was no explanation on how Hitech did the surveying and soil testing. No explanation on how the project was developed and designed. He said nothing about how the work started over night, as if it knew in advance that it was going to get the job. Funnily enough, Dave Umahi already claimed that the project had not initially been awarded by the previous administrations of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari, then one asks how was Hitech was able to determine, prepare and gather the materials needed for the project within such a space of no-time!
Dave Umahi, just like his friend at the CBN is literally announcing himself a super-magician. Who is the next Tinubu’s political appointee to make his debut on the abracadabra stage?
Photo Credit: Vanguard News