Four investors push for Lagos-Calabar highway concession

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, on Wednesday said the Federal Government’s Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project has begun attracting strong interest from international investors, with at least four companies offering to refund the entire cost of Section One in exchange for operating and tolling the road.

Umahi disclosed this while speaking at a press briefing at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, insisting that the flagship highway was conceived as an investment-driven legacy project rather than a conventional public works programme.

“When a nation is in crisis, you have to do everything possible to bring external funds into the system. That is the wisdom behind what the President is doing with these four legacy projects,” the minister said.

According to him, the Federal Government is funding only about 30 per cent of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, while 70 per cent is being sourced from international financiers, adding that the return on investment remains “very high”.

“There are about four companies that have indicated interest to pay 100 per cent of what was spent on Section One of the coastal highway, take it over and toll it. That process is ongoing,” Umahi said.

He stressed that the coastal road was designed to link and unlock multiple infrastructure projects across the country, describing it as a strategic economic corridor rather than just a road and bridge construction effort. “This legacy project is an investment. It is linking all the ongoing projects of Mr President,” he added.

The minister also pushed back strongly against allegations by a lawmaker, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, questioning the procurement process for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, describing the claims as a direct attack on his integrity.

“By saying that I didn’t care about the procurement process, that is an attack on my personality and integrity,” Umahi said, adding that he expected the statement to be withdrawn.

He maintained that the project fully complied with the Public Procurement Act, noting that the law recognises three procurement methods, all of which were duly observed. “I want him to go and study the Procurement Act and come back to tell Nigerians whether there was any infringement in the procurement of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway,” the minister said.

Umahi explained that the project passed through a comprehensive Environmental and Social Impact Assessment process, which he said was a prerequisite for attracting international funding.

According to him, the ESIA process involved public advertisements, stakeholder engagements across affected communities, independent assessments led by an academic expert, and an open international comment window before certification was issued. “At the end of the day, a certificate of ESIA was issued. It was displayed publicly, and it remains on record,” he said.

The minister revealed that international financiers, including the Dutch Development Bank, conducted independent evaluations of Section One of the project and gave favourable verdicts. “They found that the project was properly packaged, of very high quality, and undervalued,” Umahi said.

He added that when the project was opened to foreign financial institutions, it was oversubscribed by $100m, a development he said underscored global confidence in the project’s credibility. “International funders are not jokers. They scrutinise every detail before approving funding,” he said.