Highway to Where?

Beyond being a transformative infrastructure project aimed at connecting Nigeria’s southern coastline, the story of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway represents the interplay of competing interests in undertaking monumental economic projects.

Written by Chidera Ukairo

Sep 1, 2024

Photo illustration by Dami Mojid for THE REPUBLIC.

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came into office on 29 May 2023, he inherited an economy that was—and essentially still is—struggling with sky-high unemployment and immense debt. He assured Nigerians that he would ‘repay through massive investment in transportation infrastructure…and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives.’ He attempted to follow through by kicking off his administration with the end of Nigeria’s fuel subsidy programme. While experts from the International Institute for Sustainable Development backed the move, agreeing that the subsidy had become an increased financial burden, the decision thrust the country into arguably one of the worst cost-of-living crises and unsurprisingly skyrocketed the cost of transportation, which ultimately affected the cost of food and services.

Though this proved too steep a change to make, as the International Monetary Fund suggested in May 2024 that there is an implicit subsidy in the government’s cap on petrol prices, it was a grand step in the new administration’s plans to tackle the country’s economy. Fast-forward to the present day and the Tinubu administration has taken another bold step in the direction of country-wide economic growth. It has introduced the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

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About the Author

Chidera Ukairo

is a writer whose work ranges from exploratory articles to personal essays and reviews.

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Highway to Where?