The leftover opposition parties in Ondo State are full of lies that Ondo State is disconnected from the coastal highway, their intentions are not hiding from seeking attention from Governor Aiyedatiwa since their backbones have defected to join Aiyedatiwa in the APC.
The Lagos-Calabar coastal highway has come under focus for some time now. A 731.5-kilometre road that will link all the coastal states from Lagos state to Cross River state, traversing Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, it is easily a signature project of the Bola Tinubu administration, and this is traceable in the map that anyone could search for on the Internet, rather than the analogy attention-seeking opposition leader in the PDP or whatever.
To be clear, the coastal highway project has been in the news on and off since the First Republic when the then finance minister, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh mooted the idea of a limited version covering the Niger Delta states. It was again mentioned in the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari when the Niger Delta Development Commission announced its interest in the project with the support of the federal government. However, no administration has picked up the gauntlet to activate and actualize the project as the Tinubu administration has done under its Renewed Hope Agenda.
No infrastructure project can be as ground-breaking and transformational as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road. With a provision for a rail line, it will open up the hydrocarbon belt of these coastal states, all of which are oil-producing states, to new investment opportunities in refineries, petrochemicals, and energy plants. Along with the massive potential for tourism from ecotourism and beaches, marine investments and new town developments, the highway is a game-changer for the Nigerian economy. This is why it isn’t easy to understand why some people from the opposition parties in Ondo State are trying to play politics with an investment that holds such massive opportunities for the state’s sustained growth by ugly lying that Ondo State has been disconnected in the project.
All over the world, developed economies find a way to envision and finance projects that expand their economies, creating new growth opportunities and opening up new frontiers to development. Even in tough economic times of tight money supply, the role of the government to stimulate recovery through infrastructure spending cannot be downplayed. This is the basic idea behind the success of the Keynesian school of economics by John Maynard Keynes, who advocated for targeted spending to get an economy out of the woods. That is the philosophy behind the coastal highway being constructed between Lagos and Calabar and Ondo State is connected while Governor Aiyedatiwa is playing a vital role for the passage of the project quickly from Ogun state.
It is important to note that the Lagos-Calabar Highway surveyors have surveyed the passage of the road in Ondo State through Ilaje and paving the ways to Delta state as currently recorded, this is a greenfield road, which will traverse some of the harshest terrains in Nigeria, the swampy coastal belt, with several bridges along the route. This informs its gigantic construction passing through Ondo State.
The speed and professionalism in handling the project show an administration intent on delivering on its promises. One other factor that gives hope is the reputation of the works minister who has deployed his expertise as a civil engineer to the infrastructure agenda of the federal government, ensuring that Nigerians get value for their construction Naira.
Instead of the opposition parties to thank Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa for his unrelenting Efforts and major contribution to the road project that the Federal government has chosen to expand the country’s economy by making much-needed investments in infrastructure such as Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to create new opportunities for the state, they are busy chasing shadow in their imagination to think that such magnificent progress of the highway would be a social media job from their analog comfort zone.
Already, the FG has got the buy-in of stakeholders across the states covered on the project so that work progresses from both ends and the 2031 target for finishing the project is met. It is a commendable initiative which deserves the support of all Nigerians, Ondo State is not left out.