How the Multi-Trillion Naira Coastal Road Became an APC Cash Cow Just Like the Notorious Nigeria Air Aviation Scandal

West Africa WeeklyOctober 12, 20263 Mins read11

The ruling All Progressives Congress is facing an intense wave of public anger as the controversial N15.6 trillion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway mirrors the notorious Nigeria Air debacle, standing as a clear multi-billion-naira elite scam. What the government marketed as a transformative 700-kilometer engineering marvel connecting the South-South coastline to Lagos has rapidly turned into an infrastructure bait-and-switch.

The reality of the project unfolded following a quiet admission by Minister of Works David Umahi. Citing complex engineering terrains and deep peat soil, the ministry announced that the highway will no longer follow the Atlantic coastline once it exits Lagos and Ogun states. Instead, the multi-trillion-naira road will detour deep inland through Edo State to merge with the existing, perennially unfinished East-West Road.

This sudden shift betrays indigenous coastal communities across Ondo and Delta states. Local stakeholder groups, including the Ilaje Omuro Community Connect, have filed formal petitions to the National Assembly, pointing out that their ancestral lands and livelihoods were threatened or demolished for a coastal lifeline that has now been completely abandoned by their coastline. The APC administration used the grand promise of an expansive coastal road simply as a public relations stunt to justify an astronomical price tag, only to abandon the actual coastal communities once the funds were secured.

This operational pattern matches the Nigeria Air scandal under the previous APC administration, where over N85 billion in public funds vanished into transaction advisories and consultations, culminating in a staged unveiling using a chartered Ethiopian Airlines aircraft that was flown back out of the country the next day. While Nigeria Air was a literal phantom project, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway represents a tangible but deeply corrupt alternative: a localized infrastructure machine designed to enrich specific political and business interests at the expense of national development.

First, Nigeria Air used a temporary, repainted plane for a single photo opportunity to feign progress. In parallel, the Coastal Highway promised a contiguous national Atlantic corridor but focuses its active concrete paving almost exclusively within the high-value real estate sectors of Lagos, stretching past Victoria Island, the Lekki Free Trade Zone, and the Dangote Refinery.

Second, Nigeria Air entirely bypassed regulatory frameworks, failing to secure an active Air Operator Certificate. Similarly, the N15.6 trillion Coastal Highway contract was directly awarded to Hitech Construction Company Ltd., an empire owned by billionaire tycoon Gilbert Chagoury, whose deep personal and financial ties to President Bola Tinubu are a matter of public record, without a single day of competitive public bidding.

Finally, the aviation fiasco left taxpayers with zero operational planes. The highway project has locked down massive counterpart funding and a $747 million loan for a project whose route was fundamentally altered just months into execution, costing a staggering N4 billion per kilometer.

The human and economic fallout along the Lagos corridor remains severe. Utilizing sweeping powers under the Land Use Act of 1978, the federal government aggressively cleared prime beachfront land, ruthlessly bulldozing thriving hospitality hubs. Among the most prominent casualties was Paul Onwuanibe’s Landmark Beach Resort, a $200 million private investment that employed over 4,000 people. While the government staged highly publicized press conferences claiming to disburse N2.75 billion in total compensation, major affected developers have openly stated they have yet to receive a single penny, prompting a flurry of constitutional lawsuits against the Ministry of Works. The sting of these demolitions has only intensified following revelations that the ministry later altered the road’s alignment between kilometers 16 and 25 specifically to protect the ancestral lands of politically connected elites and corporate infrastructure in Okun Ajah.

With the highway now diverted away from the very ocean it was named after, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a definitive symbol of structural failure and fiscal recklessness. At a time when Nigeria is battling record-breaking inflation, a severely devalued currency, and a crushing national debt crisis, the APC’s insistence on funding a non-competitively bid, poorly planned mega-road while existing federal roads across the country lie completely unmotorable proves that the administration prioritizes elite corporate payouts over the welfare of ordinary citizens.