Posted by Atiku Abubakar, a presidential contender for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, is ill-equipped to handle numbers and the fiscal restraints imposed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration, according to David Umahi, the minister of works.
When the public gets their hands on the full breakdown of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project’s costs, Umahi claims Atiku will appreciate the caution of Tinubu’s administration.
Atiku had dared the president to reveal the entire cost of the Lagos-Calabar highway project by questioning Tinubu administration’s choice to award the contract to Gilbert Chagoury’s Hitech without competitive bidding.
The pilot phase, which starts at Eko Atlantic and is slated to conclude at the Lekki Deep Sea Port, cost N1.06 trillion, or six percent of the project, and he also queried why that amount was released by the Tinubu administration.
“He (Atiku Abubakar) doesn’t understand figures,” Umahi stated in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Orji Uchenna. He will comprehend the cautiousness of President Tinubu’s administration when I run the numbers for him.
The administration’s emphasis on caution will become clear to him. On one occasion, the president has asked me about the national projects’ budgets. To get to our unit rates, I had to research all of the fundamental building material rates. It was presented to the President by me. The idea that I should reduce project costs is still in his mind.
Meanwhile, the contractors are claiming that I am unfairly putting undue pressure on them by reducing the costs of their projects. They were upset because they are no longer receiving what they used to. Someone yelled out. But the Nigerian people will see the current administration’s actions when I calculate the numbers.
This is not the time for me to run the numbers. I want to accomplish that during a news conference that I will hold in Lagos from April 10th to the 12th, 2024.