The Minister of Works, Senator Engr. David Umahi, has fired back at former Cross River Governor Donald Duke, insisting the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is well past Epe and is now advancing across multiple states.
Speaking during an inspection of Section 4B in Ondo State on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Umahi said facts on the ground have answered every doubt.
“So the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is already on sail. And then so we have sail past Lagos that my brother Donald Duke talked about,” he said.
Construction gains momentum Â
Umahi said President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope flagship project is moving simultaneously in:
– *Ogun*: 28km
– *Ondo*: 52km
– *Calabar, Cross River*: 27km
– *Akwa Ibom*: 47km first section, plus the longest stretch of 180km
He put those sections at “over 60 percent done” in dual carriageways.
Jobs and security boostÂ
The Minister said the project is delivering more than asphalt.
“Roads are source of employment. We’ve counted over one thousand people within this section employed by HITECH. It is creating a lot of direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
He also linked the work to improved security, with personnel and vigilantes along the corridor, and new opportunities for “commerce, agriculture, for education.”
Cost, design and alignment Â
Umahi called it “the most prudent project I’ve ever seen,” citing Deutsche Bank’s backing. The bank, he said, rated the design and construction “in perfection” and oversubscribed the financing by $100 million.
On allegations that the route was changed for private estates, he blamed engineering realities: 50-metre deep soil deposits and three 3.5km ocean channels that would have made the original alignment “technically difficult and prohibitively expensive.” The new route follows President Tinubu’s directive to minimize crossings of large water bodies.
“Defend the project”Â
Umahi called on Niger Delta people to back the highway.
“It is up to Niger Delta people to open their mouth and defend these projects… They must have to vote for the president to complete this project,” he said, adding that critics “don’t have love for the Niger Delta people.”
He welcomed criticism “provided it is accompanied by practical alternatives,” and praised HITECH Construction for quality work and community relations.
The Minister concluded: “And under President Bola Tinubu, this country shall be rebuilt. Every of this road that he’s constructing, for the next hundred years, maintenance free, we will not reconstruct it.”
Statement signed by Francis Nwaze, FIPMD, Senior Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Works (Media).
