Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: Doherty writes Akpabio, Abbas, calls for suspension of project

Funsho Doherty, an opposition politician in Lagos State, has joined the call for a probe into the award of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project to Hi-Tech Construction Ltd.

Mr Doherty, in a letter addressed to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, called for a probe into the award of the contract.

The letter, dated 11 April, said the award of the contract to Hi-Tech Construction Ltd, a company owned by President Bola Tinubu’s friend, Gilbert Chagoury, violated the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

He stated that the process of awarding the contract without competitive bids was a violation of the law.

It would be recalled that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had equally raised questions over the process of the award of the road.

Mr Doherty, who contested the Lagos State Governorship Election in 2023, asked the two chambers of the National Assembly to launch a probe.

“I therefore hereby call on the National Assembly, in its capacity as representatives of the people and, in 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),” he said.

In addition, Mr Doherty called for the suspension of the project pending the review of the contract.

“The Coastal Road Project should, in the first instance, be halted and subjected to due process, including competitive bidding as required by the law.

“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,” he said.