Diri faults Duke on Lagos-Calabar coastal road project

Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, has faulted the criticism of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project by a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke.

Duke had said in an interview on Arise Television that the project was an impossibility due to swampy terrain.

The 750km highway project being constructed by the Federal Government traverses nine coastal states, including Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River.

Duke had said, “The Lagos-Calabar Road is unbuildable. You cannot even go through Bayelsa. Bayelsa is swampy. Even Yenagoa, the capital, is swampy. You will probably have to build about 100 or 200 bridges to go through those swamps.”

Responding to Duke’s criticism, the Bayelsa governor, in a statement by his spokesman, Daniel Alabrah, expressed disappointment that a former governor of a South-South state would criticise the project due to politics and not based on fact or reality.

Diri said Duke’s reference to Bayelsa and its difficult, swampy terrain was out of sync with the reality about development in the state.

He said if Duke was in tune with happenings in Bayelsa, where his administration had built roads and bridges across swamps and the mangroves, he would have known that the coastal road project was possible.

“To say the least, I feel disappointed that former Governor Duke, who is from our region, made such a comment. Clearly, he is not abreast of current developments in road construction and infrastructure development in our state.

“I want to believe that his criticism had political colourations and he did not consider the significance of such a project to our region.

“In Bayelsa, we have successfully constructed dual carriage roads and bridges in similar terrain, and our state is better for it.

“So, he is wrong. The Lagos-Calabar coastal road is buildable and possible.”

Diri further stated that the project was critical to unlocking development in the states and riverine communities along its pathway.

According to him, the coastal highway is also very dear to the Ijaw ethnic nationality as it is one of the projects that the Ijaw National Congress (INC), even from its inception in the 1990s, clamoured for.

He said it was only the administration of President Bola Tinubu that eventually undertook the project after many years of presenting the request to previous governments at the centre.

Diri explained that this was one of his reasons for joining the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the interest of his people was paramount.