Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the last general election, has offered valuable advice to the federal government.
He suggests that rather than pursuing new mega-projects like the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, the government should prioritize completing existing infrastructure projects across the country.
In a series of posts on social media, Obi highlighted the prevalence of unfinished roads throughout Nigeria. He emphasized that the budget allocated to the Ministry of Works is insufficient to make significant progress on these existing projects, let alone complete them.
“The Federal Ministry of Works 2024 capital budget of N892,461,262,656.00, additional funding from multilateral loan projects of N94,828,535,243.00, alongside other expected contributions from sources like the China-Exim Bank and the World Bank, will not be enough for serious work on all the critical roads, some of which I enumerated above, let alone their completion.
So, why embark on another huge project that will not be completed in the next 20 or 30 years?
“To do so will only exacerbate the problem of abandoned, uncompleted projects that are not contributing to economic growth and overall development.
“Therefore, while acknowledging the potential benefits of coastal superhighway infrastructure, I urge prioritization of our existing uncompleted projects. We must allocate resources towards repairing and completing existing infrastructure.
“In any development formula, the primary focus should be on completing and rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than embarking on colossal new projects that may never reach completion within the next 30 years,” Obi said.
