The presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party, Donald Duke, has criticised the Federal Government’s decision to invest heavily in the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, saying the country cannot afford the project amid its economic challenges.
Duke said the government should focus on basic needs such as electricity, healthcare and education instead of spending huge sums on projects he described as unnecessary.
The former Cross River State governor spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Arise Television’s Prime Time program.
According to him, Nigeria is facing serious funding challenges and cannot afford to commit large amounts of money to a coastal highway when many parts of the country lack reliable electricity and adequate healthcare facilities.
“Nigeria cannot afford the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. I don’t think the road will go beyond Epe,” Duke said.
He also questioned the need for the project, arguing that there was already a road linking Lagos with Calabar.
Duke said he had travelled by road between Lagos and Calabar several times and believed the existing route should be repaired instead of building another major highway.
“There is already a road from Lagos to Calabar. I’ve driven from Lagos to Calabar several times. If the road is poor, fix it,” he said.
The PRP candidate further questioned the activities he said he observed along parts of the coastal highway.
“I think the road serves other purposes because I drove once on the road, and all I saw was land reclamation and all that,” he said.
Duke said government spending should reflect the economic realities facing the country, particularly at a time when millions of Nigerians are struggling with high living costs and poor access to basic services.
“There are some expenditures we make that do not reflect the realities of our circumstances,” he said.
He argued that money being spent on the coastal highway could have a greater impact if directed towards electricity, hospitals and schools.
“The amount spent on that road could be better spent providing electricity or upgrading the healthcare system,” Duke said.
He also raised concerns about funding for the health sector, claiming that the amount of capital expenditure released for health in the previous year was very small compared with Nigeria’s population.
“Last year, I think the capital budget that was released for health was barely N36 million, and this came from the minister himself,” he said.
“That’s pathetic for a country of 230 million people. Not to talk of the schooling system that is hardly funded.”
Duke’s comments come amid an ongoing debate over the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, one of the Federal Government’s major infrastructure projects.
The highway is planned as a long coastal road linking Lagos with Calabar and passing through several coastal states. The project is expected to improve road connections, support trade and tourism, and open up communities along the coastline.
The Federal Government has defended the project as an important part of its infrastructure development plans, arguing that it will improve transportation and create economic opportunities along the coastal corridor.
However, the highway has also attracted criticism from opposition politicians, civil society groups and other stakeholders over its cost, design, funding and the manner in which some aspects of the project have been handled.
Questions have also been raised about the economic value of the project compared with other urgent national needs, including electricity, healthcare, education, roads and security.
The debate has become more important as the Federal Government continues to push infrastructure development while dealing with pressure over the cost of living, inflation and limited public resources.
Duke, who served as Cross River governor between 1999 and 2007, is not the first opposition politician to question the government’s spending priorities. Critics of the project have repeatedly argued that scarce public funds should first be used to address problems affecting the daily lives of Nigerians.
Supporters of the coastal highway, however, have maintained that major infrastructure projects can drive economic growth in the long term and should not be viewed only in terms of their immediate cost.
The disagreement therefore centres on whether Nigeria should prioritise large infrastructure projects that could produce long-term economic benefits or concentrate more resources on basic services that citizens urgently need.
He maintained that the government should channel more resources towards electricity, healthcare and education, insisting that these areas would have a more direct impact on the lives of Nigerians.