HURIWA Demands Forensic Audit as Lagos-Calabar Highway Costs Hit N7.5bn Per Kilometre

Muhammed Abubakar, Reporting

THE Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called for immediate international scrutiny of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project after the Minister of Works, David Umahi, revealed the scheme is costing taxpayers an average of N7.5 billion per kilometre.

In a strongly worded statement released on Tuesday, the civil rights group described the figure as “scandalous”, “morally offensive” and “economically provocative” — warning that the spending represents one of the most controversial public expenditure claims in Nigeria’s recent democratic history.

HURIWA condemned what it termed a “reckless, opaque and dangerously inflated spending regime” under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, noting that tens of millions of Nigerians remain trapped in multidimensional poverty, mass unemployment and hunger.

“At a time citizens can barely survive rising food prices, unaffordable transportation costs, astronomical electricity tariffs and a collapsing naira, this government is asking Nigerians to quietly accept a road project allegedly costing N7.5 billion for every kilometre constructed,” the association said.

“This is unacceptable.”

Call for National Accountability Coalition

The group has urged a coalition of institutions — including the Nigerian Bar Association, the Nigeria Labour Congress, anti-corruption bodies, engineers, economists and development partners — to form a united front demanding a comprehensive forensic audit.

HURIWA insists that full disclosure of all procurement processes, engineering valuation reports, project financing agreements, and the identities of all contractors and consultants must be released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The association noted with grave concern that countries with superior infrastructure standards — including China, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and the United States — routinely deliver major highways at significantly lower comparative costs.

Political Reciprocity Comments Draw Fire

Particularly troubling, HURIWA said, were comments attributed to Minister Umahi linking federal infrastructure spending to future electoral expectations.

“For a serving minister to publicly imply that regions should politically ‘repay’ the President for executing federally funded projects raises dangerous constitutional, ethical and democratic questions,” the statement read.

“Public infrastructure is funded with taxpayers’ money — not personal charity from political office holders.”

Suspension Demanded Pending Review

HURIWA has called on the National Assembly to commence immediate public investigative hearings, while urging the EFCC and ICPC to monitor all financial flows and procurement compliance linked to the project.

The association further demanded that all future disbursements connected to the highway be temporarily suspended pending independent forensic review.

“No democracy can survive when citizens are denied transparency over projects funded with borrowed public money that future generations will repay,” HURIWA warned.

“The time for silence is over.”