BOMA DIEPRIYE
BAYELSA, Nigeria — Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has said South-South governors are opposed to plans to realign the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway with the East-West Road, insisting that the two projects must proceed separately.
Diri disclosed that he had personally contacted the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, to express his opposition to the proposed realignment, arguing that reconstructing the East-West Road should not come at the expense of the coastal highway.
According to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, the governor spoke during the 200th session of the Bayelsa State Executive Council at Government House, Yenagoa.
Diri said the South-South governors were united in their support for the coastal highway but would not accept a plan that effectively merged it with the East-West Road.
“I read, like everyone else, that there would be a realignment and that the coastal road would be merged with the East-West Road, which I do not believe is the same project. That should be a South-South road,” he said.
The governor disclosed that he had privately called Umahi to register his objection to the proposal.
“I privately called the Minister of Works and said, ‘Minister, that is a no, no, no for us. These are two different projects.’
“I agree with you that the East-West Road should be reconstructed. It is called the East-West Road, but its reconstruction should not replace the coastal road.
“While you reconstruct the East-West Road, the coastal road must continue because you have already won the hearts of all the coastal states,” Diri said.
He added that discussions with the minister had reached a point of disagreement over the proposed arrangement.
The disagreement comes amid renewed attention to the Federal Government’s plans for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the East-West Road. Works Minister Umahi had explained that President Bola Tinubu approved the reconstruction of an additional 400 kilometres of the East-West Road, from Edo State to Cross River State, alongside the coastal highway project.
Umahi attributed the proposed adjustment to difficult terrain in Ondo State, where he said construction pits were more than 100 metres deep and suitable sharp sand was unavailable at depths of up to 300 metres.
The coastal highway is a major infrastructure project intended to link Lagos with coastal communities and states across southern Nigeria. Its alignment and relationship with existing road networks have become subjects of debate among political leaders and stakeholders in the Niger Delta.
Kuku Backs Tinubu’s Coastal Highway Project
Meanwhile, Kingsley Kuku, a former presidential adviser on Niger Delta affairs and former chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, has expressed support for the Tinubu administration, citing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.
Kuku argued that the Ijaw nation and the wider Niger Delta deserved infrastructure development commensurate with their contributions to Nigeria’s economy.
He described the coastal highway as an ambitious national infrastructure project that should be assessed within a long-term development framework capable of surviving changes in government.
The former legislator and lawyer maintained that the Niger Delta’s demand for improved infrastructure was a matter of fairness rather than preferential treatment.
According to him, communities whose land and waterways have sustained the national economy should not continue to contend with inadequate roads and weak infrastructure.
His position underscores the importance some Niger Delta leaders attach to the coastal highway as a potential driver of connectivity and development, even as disagreements persist over its proposed alignment and relationship with the East-West Road.
