Shehu Sani, a former lawmaker representing Kaduna Central in the National Assembly, has defended the N15.6 trillion Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, stating that it is not a wasteful initiative.
This comes after former President Olusegun Obasanjo criticized the project, calling it a wasteful and corrupt endeavor.
Sani also took issue with the President Bola Tinubu administration for allocating N21 billion for a new official residence for Vice-President Kashim Shettima.
Read Also: Lagos-Calabar Highway Project Wasteful, Corrupt – Obasanjo
Obasanjo made these comments in the sixth chapter of his new book *Nigeria: Past and Future*, which was launched last week in celebration of his 88th birthday.
He said, “State resources are captured and appropriated, with a pittance to staff and associates to silence whistleblowers.
“Typical examples of waste, corruption and misplaced priority are the murky Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road on which the President had turned deaf ears to protests and the new Vice-President’s official residence built at a cost of N21bn in the time of economic hardship to showcase the administration hitting the ground running and to show the importance of the office of the Vice-President. What small minds!”
In a post on his official X handle on Thursday, Sani responded by stating that the highway project is not wasteful, emphasizing that the funds allocated for it could have easily been misappropriated.
He wrote, “I don’t think Lagos Calabar highway is wasteful, taking cognisance that such amount of money for the project can be stolen by one man, as it happened in the CBN in the past.”
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