Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has criticised the Tinubu administration’s emphasis on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, contending that Nigeria’s economic vulnerability and insecurity should come before such massive infrastructure projects.
In an interview on Monday, Obi questioned whether it was logical to commit vast resources to the several infrastructural projects that will “lead nowhere when we have a crisis.”
“Are you saying that the coastal road is more important than securing Nigeria?” he asked.
Obi stressed that security and production are the foundations of any functional economy. Without securing the country, he said, even the most ambitious infrastructure would amount to a misplaced priority.
He said, “The roads we have all over the country are no more durable. You fix those roads first and use your resources to secure your country. Security is far more fundamental than roads. Would you prefer a road to your village when you cannot drive to your village? If you prefer, let us do what we are doing. So if you say our problem is insecurity, they can’t go to the farm; our problem is power, let’s deal with those things.”
“We are a government. We must secure our people, and it requires decisive action,” he added.
Drawing on his tenure as Anambra State governor, Obi argued that the military, police, and other security agencies must be empowered to act decisively, adding that Nigeria must treat its internal threats with the seriousness of a wartime situation.
“If we were in a war, we would declare a state of war… Whatever it takes to secure the country, I would do it.”
