USA Africa Dialogue Series - OVER - BLOATED LAGOS -CALABAR COAST HIGHWAY?

OVER - BLOATED LAGOS -CALABAR COAST HIGHWAY?

-The Hidden Bill Behind Nigeria's ₦15 Trillion Coastal Dream

By Ambassador T. Brikins

The figures sit silently on paper, but they speak volumes to the attentive mind.

₦15 trillion — that is the sum reportedly budgeted for the new Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, a grand 700-kilometre sweep meant to hug the Atlantic shoreline like a necklace of concrete - cement, steel- iron and asphalt. It is commendably an ambitious dream, a signature of power and progress, but also a mirror reflecting the nation's recurring ailment — opacity.

When one divides ₦15 trillion by 700 kilometres, the arithmetic stings like salt in an open wound: ₦21,428,571,428.57 per kilometre — roughly ₦21.4 billion for every single kilometre of road. That is what the numbers say, even if officials hesitate to repeat it aloud on television.

The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, once mentioned ₦4 billion per kilometre. But that modest figure collapses under the weight of the ₦15 trillion total. Which of the two numbers speaks the truth? What has been buried under those zeroes?

The silence is telling. For now, the public must infer what government prefers to withhold. And inference leads to suspicion, for the gap between ₦4 billion and ₦21 billion per kilometre is not a rounding error — it is a canyon of questions.

Across the world, nations have carved roads through tougher terrains and turbulent seas, yet they have done so under the full glare of public scrutiny. In Norway, the Western Coastal Highway — the famed E39 — runs across deep fjords, connected by underwater tunnels and floating bridges. It is one of the most expensive road projects on earth, projected to cost about US$47 billion over 1,100 kilometres, translating to an average of roughly US$43 million per kilometre — but every figure, every bridge length, every tunnel diameter is publicly available for citizens and parliamentarians to inspect.

In India, the Mumbai Coastal Road Project tells another story of both ambition and accountability. Stretching 29.2 kilometres along the Arabian Sea, it carries a total cost of about ₹14,000 crore — roughly US$1.7 billion — translating to around US$58 million per kilometre, or approximately ₦92 billion/km at current rates. Yes, it is steep — but it is also visible, documented, debated, and inspected by courts, citizens, and environmentalists. Every environmental clearance, every land reclamation stage, every cost variation is contested and published. It is public money in public light.

In Turkey, the Antalya–Alanya Highway, twisting through mountainous terrain, secured €1.7 billion in international financing for about 122 kilometres. There, syndicated loans from European and development banks came only after detailed due diligence and environmental reviews — conditions Nigeria should equally welcome, not evade. And further north along the Black Sea, Turkey's coastal highway stretched for hundreds of kilometres, with transparent cost breakdowns and documented environmental concerns, not the vague cloud that now hangs over Nigeria's coast.

If Nigeria's coastal highway mirrors any of these, then why are the numbers hidden in fog? The Federal Government has confirmed a $747 million loan led by Deutsche Bank for the initial 47.47-kilometre phase, yet little else is known of the contractual terms, interest rates, or repayment schedule. What other loans have been pledged? What portions are to be funded by taxpayers, tolls, or future debts? A project that cuts across multiple states, consumes trillions, and alters coastlines cannot be treated like a family secret.

Transparency, not secrecy, builds nations.

Even with generous interpretation, ₦15 trillion for 700 kilometres looks swollen. Suppose Umahi's ₦4 billion per kilometre were accurate — then the total would be only ₦2.8 trillion. What accounts for the remaining ₦12.2 trillion? Are those sums meant for sea walls, interchanges, reclamation, or contingencies? If so, where are the engineering drawings, the line-item budgets, the environmental impact reports, and the coastal protection plans?

Coastal highways are costly everywhere, but not mysterious. Norway's engineers publish tunnel depths; India's contractors submit live dashboards of progress; Turkey's lenders issue press releases after every tranche. But in Nigeria, the citizen is left to divine the truth from silence.

And so, questions pile higher than the bridge piers:

Who are the contractors, and how were they chosen?

How much is funded through loans, and under what repayment terms?

Were Environmental and Social Impact Assessments conducted and approved publicly?

Which communities stand to lose homes and livelihoods, and what compensation awaits them?

A democracy cannot build prosperity on secrecy. Nigerians have every right to know how their ₦15 trillion will be spent, who will profit, who will pay, and who will be displaced. For a nation already burdened by debt and dwindling trust, the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway could become either a symbol of modern rebirth or another marble monument to mismanagement.

The lessons from other coasts are clear:

Transparency first — publish line-by-line budgets and contracts before pouring another bag of cement.

Independent audits — value-for-money reviews must precede fresh disbursements.

Environmental integrity — full public release of EIA and compensation frameworks.

Citizen oversight — open site access, progress dashboards, and geotagged reports.

India's Mumbai Coastal Road was delayed by litigation, but in the end it was scrutiny — not silence — that corrected its course. Norway's coastal tunnels are engineering marvels because accountability, not corruption, guided the bidding process.

Nigeria's coast deserves no less.

If the dream is truly to open the nation's southern seaboard, to connect Lagos to Calabar and spark new economic life, then let light shine upon the budgets, the tenders, and the terms. Let journalists, civil society, and every taxpayer demand the simple truth: How much does one kilometre of road really cost — and why?

Until those answers come, the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway will remain what it currently is — not a corridor of progress, but a mirror of our moral terrain.

And in that mirror, every inflated figure reflects not asphalt and steel, but the erosion of public trust.

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