Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has described the ongoing coastal highway project being implemented by the administration of President Bola Tinubu as a misplaced priority.
The former Anambra State Governor argued that the current administration needs to solve more pressing issues, such as the challenges of insecurity and an ailing economy.
He questioned why such large-scale infrastructural projects are taking precedence over projects that have more direct bearings on the lives of citizens.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Monday, Obi questioned the rationale and timing of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.
According to him, it is questionable to commit vast resources to the several infrastructural projects that will“lead nowhere when we have crisis.”
Are you saying that the coastal road is more important than securing Nigeria?”he asked.
The former Governor argued that the challenges of insecurity and stabilizing the economy need to be solved before embarking on such ambitious projects such as the coastal highway project.
He said,“The roads we have all over the country are no more durable. You fix those roads first and use your resources to secure your country. Security is far more fundamental than roads. Would you prefer a road to your village when you cannot drive to your village? If you prefer, let us do what we are doing. So if you say our problem is insecurity, they can’t go to farm, our problem is power, let’s deal with those things.
We are a government. We must secure our people, and it requires decisive action.”
He called on the government to empower the security agencies to deal decisively with all criminal threats.
“If we were in a war, we would declare a state of war… whatever it takes to secure the country, I would do it,”Obi said.