Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration for proceeding with the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project despite widespread public opposition.<\/p>\n
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Obi expressed dismay over the government’s decision to pursue a project that threatens jobs, particularly at a time of escalating unemployment. He emphasized the need to prioritize urgent national necessities such as security, poverty alleviation, healthcare, and education, especially for the less privileged.<\/p>\n
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In a statement posted on his social media handle on Tuesday, the former Anambra State governor condemned the reported demolition of businesses and residences along the designated right of way for the project. He described the demolitions as insensitive and heartbreaking, resulting in the loss of livelihoods, wasted investments, and disappearing job opportunities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Obi highlighted the significant economic losses already observed in the initial phase of the project in the Lagos area. He warned that the continuation of the project could lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, risking investments worth over $200 million and threatening the livelihoods of numerous individuals, particularly in the leisure and hospitality sector.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Questioning the rationale and timing of the project, Obi emphasized that Nigeria’s current economic challenges, widespread poverty, and insecurity make it imperative to reconsider the allocation of resources. He cited the urgent need for maintenance of existing highways and improvement of security, especially following recent tragic incidents such as the fuel tanker explosion on the East-West road in Rivers State.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Obi argued that the focus should be on addressing critical national development needs rather than embarking on costly projects with questionable benefits. He called for a reassessment of priorities, stressing that the nation cannot afford another expensive abandoned project amidst pressing challenges.<\/p>\n
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He concluded by urging the government to redirect its efforts towards initiatives that address the urgent needs of the populace, emphasizing the importance of security, poverty alleviation, healthcare, and education for all Nigerians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has criticized President Bola Tinubu’s administration for proceeding with the controversial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project despite widespread public opposition. Obi expressed dismay over the government’s decision to pursue a project that threatens jobs, particularly at a time of escalating unemployment. He emphasized the need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":29587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29588,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29584\/revisions\/29588"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}