Lagos Coastal Road Already Showing Signs of Deterioration Months After Partial Completion

Barely three months after the federal government opened the first operational segment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to public use, social media users and motorists have raised fresh concerns over the quality of the project after videos surfaced showing sections of the road undergoing patching and repairs.

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a 700-kilometre super-highway considered the most ambitious road infrastructure ever undertaken by any government in Nigeria. The highway is planned to run from Victoria Island, Lagos to Calabar, Cross River State, passing through Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states. Section One, a 47-kilometre stretch by six lanes, was completed in 2026, with the contractor, Hitech Construction Company Limited, working towards a formal inauguration.

But a video shared on X by user @Uptownoflagos on Wednesday showed that the coastal road is already undergoing patching, prompting comparisons to the quality of roads built under the administration of former Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo. The user wrote: “Wait, Coastal Road is already undergoing patching? Like Soludo, like Umahi Omo”.

Wait, Coastal Road is already undergoing patching?

Like Soludo, like Umahi

Omo 🤦🏽‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/9jsEW4E3GA

— UptownOfLagos (@Uptownoflagos) July 8, 2026

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The development adds to a growing list of quality concerns surrounding the project. In August 2025, Minister of Works David Umahi confirmed that he had received over 500 messages from Nigerians about a crack noticed on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Umahi dismissed the crack as not a structural failure, describing it as a natural effect on the shoulder area which was yet to be completed.

The project has also faced criticism over its environmental approval process. In July 2026, Arise TV presenter Rufai Oseni criticised Umahi, alleging that the project’s Environmental Impact Assessment was completed only one month before the first phase of the coastal road was commissioned.

More recently, the highway has been at the centre of a heated debate over flooding in Lagos. Residents and social media users have linked the ongoing construction to flooding in parts of the state, but Umahi has consistently dismissed these claims. He has insisted that the project was specifically designed to improve drainage and reduce flooding in shoreline communities, incorporating extensive drainage infrastructure including multiple culverts and evacuation channels. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has also rejected what he called the “social media narrative”, saying flooding in Lagos is largely a consequence of the state’s coastal geography rather than the highway construction.

Despite the minister’s assurances, the sight of patching work on a road that has barely been in use has raised fresh questions about the quality of workmanship and the durability of one of Nigeria’s most expensive infrastructure projects. The Federal Government has approved N7 trillion for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and other related projects. With the road expected to be tolled after its formal inauguration, many Nigerians are already questioning whether they will be paying for a road that is already showing signs of premature deterioration.

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