The coastal road of many queries from Lagos to Calabar

By Chido Nwakanma

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka famously interpreted and gave wings to the Yoruba aphorism that “there are many stories in a penny newspaper”. The context was the newspaper’s early days in Nigeria, which sold at a penny each.

Today’s media platforms inundate us with many stories, each more captivating than the last. In this sea of information, we must engage our critical thinking skills. Remember, we must verify the information for honesty.

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road remains the focus of many debates, disputations, and interventions. On many platforms, commentators raised issues. Here is one.

“In my view, there is much more than ‘the government claiming back their right of way’ to this Landmark matter. We can start with the utter lack of transparency and empathy with which it’s being handled. I have a few questions including the following:

1. We want to build a Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. Of the places it could start from in Lagos, it just has to start from Eko Atlantic, which is or will be the preserve of the privileged, ultra-monied elite. Why?

2. The original coastal road, as we were told during the construction of the Lekki expressway/toll gates, was the Water Corporation Road. We were told it would be an alternative route to the tolled road. Today, a large expanse of that road has been abandoned and is virtually an eyesore. But we have chosen to ignore it and start a brand new “Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.” Why?

3. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is such an ‘urgent’ project that work commenced before it was announced to the public. Quite a feat and highly unusual for any government project in this part of the world. Typically, such projects are slow to take off and are riddled with delays. In this case, it’s so very different. What’s the great, big hurry and why?

4. This is the only project I have ever seen/heard of where an EIA stakeholder meeting is convened after the project has commenced. The project owners/sponsors are not concerned about stakeholders’ views/concerns or the project’s potential environmental impact. This is particularly strange given the centrality of ESG factors in project financing and investment decisions today.

5. Globally, there are significant concerns over the impact of rising sea levels, erosion, and climate change on coastal cities. According to some reports, Lagos is particularly at risk from rising sea levels. Yet our government appears to be embarking on constructing a coastal highway at a cost of N4B per KM with no hard evidence of having conducted a proper EIA. Why?

6. The opacity about the source of funds and the nature of the handshake between the government and the private sector in the funding arrangements makes it even more worrying. First, the contractor was going to self-fund, and then suddenly, with a change of plan, the government was going to fund. But we don’t know the total cost, nor was any competitive bidding done. Why?
Anonymous

Arise News correspondent Laila Johnson-Salami took to Facebook to raise more questions about the road following her near altercation with Minister of Works Engr Dave Umahi at a press briefing. Umahi tried to minimise her and her questions by claiming an inability to hear elevated grammar. Still, she stood her ground and asked him to seek assistance from his many assistants.

Vice President Kassim Shettima and “ice cream” duties

During the week, a long post running across social media platforms suggested that Vice President Kassim Shettima did not have enough critical tasks to occupy him. Indeed, the piece indicated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should move Shettima away from “ice cream” duties to real jobs.

𝐊𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐜𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬

During the campaigns, Shettima had touted himself as a security expert. Now, he loiters like an ice cream man. Shettima is effectively idle. Against the backdrop of Osinbajo, Shettima looks like a forgotten ceremonial piece. Shettima’s dusty redundancy is confounding because the government grapples with many intractable demons. So Shettima can’t recline into this cheerleading without provoking sympathy. He should be assigned a big bone. Before the elections, the effusive man had big ideas, but now he floats like the naira, filling his days with hypeman’s flattery and motivational chants.

The presidency reeks of awalokan. Shettima’s mind must harbour unutterable emotions. All levers of power are in the hands of trusted longstanding aides and associates of the president. It must be a little claustrophobic for an adventurous Shettima. Once in a while, when he is allowed to luxuriate and represent the president at a foreign conference, he comes to board his plane smiling for cameras. He didn’t come to the presidency for these international picnics. Yet he must remain in the ‘suffering and smiling’ mode for his good. Even a wince can make him a Judas. Buhari and Tinubu are different animals.

Regardless of the suffocating prevalence of parapoism in this presidency, a former governor and senator, who prides himself as Jim Ovia’s boy, should be allowed to breathe. These things prevent the atrophy of self-esteem. He has political gravitas that has been undercultivated and underutilised. Politically naive Osinbajo had his hands full. Shettima can even be used for nasty jobs. “At-all at-all” they say. We all know he chairs the economic council and a few other inconsequential gatherings. With the president’s implicit confidence in Wale Edun, Cardoso, and other men who helped him in Lagos, and with him ensconced in them, Shettima looks dispensable. Osinbajo carved and sold an economic and recovery program, and Atiku championed one program after another during his first tenure. But Shettimma has become an itinerant motivational speaker, hawking half-baked jokes at birthday ceremonies, mouthing platitudes about hope in the time of tumbling naira and crushing cost of living. His situation is unfortunate.