By Abubakar Yunusa
David Umahi, minister of works, says President Bola Tinubu did not recommend any company for the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.
On April 7, 2024, Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, said Tinubu placed his personal business interest ahead of Nigerians with the project.
Abubakar said the 700-kilometre (km) Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project was awarded to Hitech Construction Company Limited (Hitech), owned by Gilbert Chagoury.
He described Chagoury as “Tinubu’s business partner” and accused the president of prioritising personal business interests ahead of Nigeria.
Speaking on Saturday during an inspection tour of the project in Lagos, Umahi said due process was followed in the bidding process.
”I want to say that there is no corruption in it. It is very transparent.”
Addressing concerns about the bidding process, he explained that procurement laws in Nigeria allow for three types of procurement, including restrictive procurement, selective/competitive bidding, and open bidding.
“Some people say that it didn’t go through a competitive bidding. I want to explain this: we have three types of procurement allowed by law,” the minister said.
“When we started this project, we asked for companies that have up to five Wirtgen concrete paver.
“You will agree with me that until we started this, the concrete paver was not common in Nigeria as it is today.
“We had to look for a company that had done this kind of project before, and that is Hitech.”
The minister said Hitech reconstructing the Oworonshoki-Apapa road successfully led to the company’s selection for section 1 of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project.
“We saw that they got it right; so, we called them on Section 1,” Umahi added.
Umahi further explained that the first section of the highway was awarded to Hitech through a restrictive bidding process, which was reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the federal executive council (FEC).
“When other companies started bringing in some equipment, because they saw that ministry of works is insisting, especially where we have high water table, that we must use concrete, they started to bring in concrete equipment,” he said.
Umahi said the federal government later used selective bidding for section 2 of the project, inviting several companies to participate, with Hitech emerging as the winner.
He added that the same approach was applied to sections 3A and 3B, with a similar outcome.
The minister added that the process adhered strictly to the law and complied fully with the provisions of the Procurement Act.
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