The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has asked Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, to withdraw his recent comment accusing him of “dancing around” questions on the cost of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
Umahi, who spoke on Saturday during an inspection tour of the Mararaba–Keffi dual carriageway in Nasarawa State, described the governor’s remark as unfair and unbecoming, insisting that he neither evaded questions nor gave unclear explanations.
Makinde had, during an interview on Arise TV last Thursday, criticised the minister for allegedly dodging questions about the project’s average cost per kilometre.
“Asked a minister how much is the coastal road, and then you’re (the minister) dancing around, saying next kilometre is different from next kilometre? Then what is the average cost?” Makinde had queried.
Reacting, Umahi said the governor’s choice of words was disrespectful and should be withdrawn, adding that he was both Makinde’s senior in governance and in the engineering profession.
“I am his senior in governance and in engineering practice. Anything he doesn’t understand, he should call me and ask,” Umahi said. “I respect him as a friend and brother, but he should withdraw the word that I am ‘dancing around.’ I never danced around. If he insists, he should come for a debate.”
The minister explained that there was no ambiguity in cost computation, stressing that an estimated cost is provisional while an average cost is definitive.
“The estimated cost per kilometre includes contingency and variation of price (VOP), which may not even be used,” he said.
Umahi, who was accompanied by Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule, further defended the Federal Government’s cost structure for the coastal and other road projects, explaining that the cost per kilometre cannot be uniform because of differences in topography, materials, and construction methods.
According to him, the Mararaba–Keffi road project, initially pegged at 43 kilometres, was increased to 45 kilometres to make full use of the ₦73 billion budgeted for it by the previous administration.
“Cost per kilometre depends on material type — whether asphalt, surface dressing, or concrete. It is wrong to generalise. If we are doing surface tracing on the shoulder, the cost will differ from when we use asphalt or concrete,” he explained.
Umahi maintained that the true average cost of the Lagos-Calabar project could only be determined upon completion, dismissing Makinde’s criticism as “mischievous and uninformed.”
“It is being mischievous when you ask for the cost of a length of road without considering its specifications,” he said.
The minister, a former two-term governor of Ebonyi State and an engineer by training, has repeatedly defended the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing it as one of the most economically strategic infrastructure projects under the Bola Tinubu administration.
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