The presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) for the 2027 election, Donald Duke, has claimed the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project may never extend beyond Epe in Lagos State.
Speaking on Tuesday during an interview on Prime Time, an Arise Television programme, the former Cross River State governor contended that Nigeria lacks the financial capacity to execute the 750-kilometre coastal highway while grappling with pressing challenges in healthcare, education and electricity.
Duke questioned the feasibility of constructing a highway across the Niger Delta’s swampy terrain, particularly in Bayelsa State, where he said the geographical conditions would require the construction of hundreds of bridges.
“I’ll bring this up. Take the Lagos-Calabar highway. I know the country cannot afford it,” he said.
“You cannot build a road on the coast from Lagos to Calabar. I mean, you can’t even go through Bayelsa. Bayelsa is swamp. Even Yenagoa, the capital, is swamp. You’ll probably have to build about 100 or 200 bridges to go through those swamps.”
He maintained that the country already has a highway linking Lagos and Calabar, urging the government to rehabilitate the existing road instead of embarking on an entirely new coastal route.
“There is already a road to Calabar. I’ve driven from Lagos to Calabar several times. If the road is poor, fix it,” he said.
Expressing doubts about the project’s completion, Duke said he did not believe the highway would go beyond Epe, alleging that the development appeared to be linked to extensive land reclamation activities.
“I don’t think that road is going to go beyond Epe, and I think the road serves other purposes because I drove once on the road and all I saw on the right flank going towards Epe was land reclamation and all that,” he added.
The former governor argued that the huge financial resources earmarked for the coastal highway would have a greater impact if channelled into critical sectors such as electricity generation and healthcare.
“The amount going to be spent on that road could be better spent providing electricity or upgrading your healthcare system,” he said.
Duke also lamented what he described as poor government funding for healthcare and education, insisting that both sectors deserve greater budgetary attention.
“Last year, the capital budget that was released for health was barely N36 million. This came from the minister himself. That’s pathetic for a country of 230 million people,” he said.
“Not to talk about the schooling system that is hardly funded. So you prioritise, focus on your priorities, recalibrate your revenue system.”
He further advocated reforms to Nigeria’s revenue collection framework, arguing that excessive dependence on taxing corporate profits encourages tax avoidance. According to him, expanding transactional taxes and strengthening revenue administration would improve government earnings.
Duke also identified affordable energy as the foundation for economic growth, urging the government to make electricity, gas and other energy sources more accessible to businesses and households.
“We are blessed with all the known forms of energy, from hydro to solar to gas to petroleum,” he said.
“I’m not saying give it free of charge, no, but make it available and very affordable because that is going to be a major stimulus for the productivity of your people.”
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is one of the flagship infrastructure projects of President Bola Tinubu’s administration. The Federal Government awarded the 47.47-kilometre Phase 1, Section 1 of the project to Hitech Construction Company at a contract sum of ₦1.067 trillion, while the entire 700-kilometre highway is projected to cost about $11 billion upon completion.
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