TheCable

Funso Doherty, a former governorship candidate of the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) in Lagos, has asked the national assembly to probe the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.

The 700-kilometre road project, expected to cost N15.6 trillion, has sparked controversy, with some Nigerians questioning the transparency of the contract award process.

Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, had described the project as “scandalous”, saying it is shrouded in secrecy.

Abubakar also claimed that President Bola Tinubu prioritised personal business interests over Nigerians by awarding the road contract to Hitech, a company owned by Gilbert Chagoury, without competitive bidding.

In a letter dated April 11 and addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house of representatives, Doherty urged the national assembly to probe the road contract. 

The ADC chieftain said the award process violates the public procurement act “as due process was not followed”.

“In what appears to be an alarming violation of the provisions of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 (PPA), the executive arm of Government through the Federal Ministry of Works (FMW), led by the Honorable Minister, David Umahi, has recently awarded a massive contract for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road to Hi-Tech Construction Ltd,” the letter reads.

“By the Minister’s public admission, competitive bidding was not applied, and the contract was awarded to Hi-Tech on a single-source basis.”

‘PPA REQUIRES OPEN BIDDING’

Doherty stated that: “As you are no doubt aware, for obvious reasons aimed at protecting the public interest, the PPA as enacted by the National Assembly, requires open competitive bidding except for certain specific exemptions that are clearly outlined in Part VII of the act”.

“In my opinion, none of the reasons canvassed by the Minister for exempting this Project from competitive bidding, apply to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road,” he said. 

“I, therefore, hereby call on the National Assembly, in its capacity as representatives of the people and, in the exercise of its powers and responsibilities of oversight, to immediately commence an investigation into this project, the FMW and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).”

‘PROJECT SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO BIDDING’

Doherty said the project should be suspended and “subjected to due process including competitive bidding” as required by the law.

“In addition, you may consider the following to be relevant to your investigation: Both Hi-Tech Construction and South Energy Ltd (Promoter and developer of Eko Atlantic, the vast coastal concession granted for shoreline protection and development of luxury real estate, where the Coastal road will originate from) are reported to be substantially beneficially owned by Gilbert Chagoury,” Doherty said in the letter.

“As a result of the issues now being raised on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project, the National Assembly may also want to better understand the Eko Atlantic concession, who its other ultimate beneficial owners are, its extent, limits and the process that was followed in granting that concession.

“Furthermore, according to the Minister, certain changes have been made to the proposed alignment of the road from the originally gazetted right of way to the one now being implemented by Hi-Tech.

“An argument has been made that being under common ownership (the Chagoury Group) with the concessionaire of an adjacent property, (Eko Atlantic), Hi-Tech is an interested party and may stand to benefit from some of the alignment changes that have been made.

“If offences under the PPA or code of conduct are established in the course of your investigations, we expect that they will be prosecuted and that the consequences provided in the law will be applied to serve as a deterrent.”