BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation promoting transparency, accountability, and effective service delivery in Nigeria, has observed that there were no allocation for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway in the 2025 Budget.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway is a 700-kilometer project intended to connect the western and south-eastern regions of Nigeria, enhancing cross-country connectivity and trade relations.
Construction began in March 2024 under President Bola Tinubu’s administration and the first phase of the road was marked to stretch 47.47 kilometers from Lagos.
The highway is expected to be completed in eight years, costing approximately N4 billion per kilometer.
In a statement seen by Business Post, BudgIT said, “This omission implies that if funding for this project materialises, it will likely necessitate reallocating funds from other critical projects, potentially hindering their implementation and impacting the budget’s credibility.”
In December 2024, the Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi, stated that the federal government would require long-term loans to complete the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and other legacy projects.
He emphasized that budgetary appropriations alone would be insufficient, advocating for tolling the completed roads to enhance return on investment.
The group added that, “It is worth noting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s recent pronouncement regarding the retirement package of military generals, which includes the provision of a bulletproof SUV, fully paid foreign medical treatment, $20,000 as estacode for medical trips, and payments for domestic help, contradicts his previous commitments to reduce the cost of governance and welfare packages to top-ranked public officials and civil servants.”
“Such provisions not only inflate the budget and widen the fiscal deficit but may also demoralise lower-ranking military personnel, who lack adequate health insurance and retirement benefits despite their higher exposure to combat risks,” it added.
The group warned that the excesses in the budget pose serious fiscal risks leading to severe budget financing challenges, additional unforeseen government obligations, and a significant increase in public debt.
“The government’s inflation projection of 15% in the 2025 fiscal year appears grossly unrealistic, considering that inflation, which stood at 34.6% as of November 2024, has been driven not only by monetary factors such as exchange rate and money supply but also by the constant increase in food and energy prices—both of which the government has not created a clear roadmap to resolving in the short term,” it noted.