PDP BOT at an emergency meeting in Abuja
Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after a comprehensive analysis of the controversies, trailing the N15 trillion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, stated that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) administration has failed on the statutory requirements of transparency, accountability and service delivery.
This is contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the PDP BoT Chairman, Adolphus Wabara.
The Board said it strongly condemned the pervading culture of arbitrariness in the management of the affairs of the nation by the current administration, where contracts are awarded and mobilized without adherence to due process and statutory appropriation by the National Assembly.
The Board condemned the award of the contract of a project as huge as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway without approved engineering design, without an environmental, economic and social impact assessment, without transparent, open and competitive bidding process as required by the Public Procurement Act 2007 and without the statutory appropriation by the National Assembly.
It said the move by the Federal Government to realign the Lagos-Calabar Highway to existing road, citing climate change and other environmental issues further confirms that the project took off without a proper engineering design and approved environmental impact assessment.
It added: “that the Board holds that awarding the contract and mobilization of funds without National Assembly approval, due process and proper environmental impact assessment is a gross abuse of office and a huge indictment on the integrity of the APC administration.
The secrecy, lack of public accountability and utter disregard for statutory frameworks are alarming and unacceptable in a democracy.
The Board emphasized that critical national infrastructure cannot be implemented through arbitrary directives or shielded from public scrutiny while ordinary citizens grapple with unprecedented economic hardship.
The BoT therefore demanded for a full investigation into the violations surrounding the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project. Nigerians deserve to know the truth.
