Coastal highway: FG approves additional 100km to pass through Edo
The federal government has approved an additional 100 kilometres to the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, so it can pass through Edo State, South-South Nigeria. This brings the total length of the highway to 800km, and the number of states covered to nine.
David Umahi, Nigeria’s Minister for Works, disclosed this at an Independence Gala night hosted by the Edo State government at the State Villa, Benin City, on October 1, 2025.
The minister quoted President Tinubu as saying, ‘This project must pass from Lagos to Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and to Cross River. And that is why we are here. Your Excellency, the President has given you 100 kilometres of the coastal road.”
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He recalled that when the idea of the coastal road was conceived 47 years ago, Tinubu contacted the governors who were in office along with him then, but unfortunately, the project could not take off.
According to him, the route was made known, but unfortunately, it did not pass through Edo State. “So, when you heard 700 kilometres, and today you hear 750 kilometres, you may ask yourself where the difference is coming from; the difference is coming from here,” he explained.
He commended the government and people of the state for their tremendous support for the federal government and also for their steadfastness to the values of the government’s Renewed Hope agenda.
Umahi assured them of the government’s commitment to quality and timely delivery of inherited ongoing projects in the State, despite frightening infrastructural and funding deficits inherited from previous administrations.
He also commended the state governor for agreeing to intervene on some critical sections of the Benin-Sapele-Warri road, which had been a death-trap to motorists, commending the level of work so far done by CBC, the contractor handling one of the sections.
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“So I want to thank you, Your Excellency, for this intervention, and I want to thank CBC for the very good quality work we have seen. But, re-mobilise to this place, and the controller must be giving me photographs of work done every day, and we have to do more work at night,” he directed.
Monday Okpebholo, the state governor, thanked the federal government for including his state in the coastal highway project and for all the improvements on the federal roads in the state since the present administration came on board.
He noted the gesture as a manifestation of the interest of the President in the people of the state and also thanked the minister for the innovation in road construction, which he said would guarantee quality and value for money.
The governor equally commended Umahi for his commitment and for always responding any time his attention is called to the infrastructural needs of Edo, stressing the desire of his administration to change the narrative in infrastructural development in the state.
“A few days ago, I came to this axis on my way back, and what I saw almost made me weep. Seeing the number of vehicles that were on this road, and the trailers that fell, I felt it shouldn’t be so. The government is trying, and whoever is criticizing it doesn’t know what he is doing. However, criticism is also good because it serves as a wake-up call for all of us,” the governor noted.
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“I invited you because of this road; it’s terribly bad. If I do my part and you do your part, no one will criticize the government. That’s the main reason I called you here. Our people are crying out for this road to be fixed. We need to do something about this place, whether it’s the federal or state government,” he added
The governor said that Benin people use the road the most, and they can’t come out and go to work or come back from work without struggling, which is why the governments need to fix the road and make it motorable.
