Nigeria’s off‑budget spending scandal spotlights $15‑million‑per‑km Lagos‑Calabar coastal road

The International Monetary Fund’s resident representative in Nigeria, Christian Ebeke, said the federal government has spent about two percent of GDP – roughly N8‑9 trillion – on projects that were not recorded in the official budget. The IMF did not name specific projects, but the disclosure has drawn attention to the Lagos‑Calabar coastal highway, a 700‑km super‑highway planned from Victoria Island in Lagos to Calabar in Cross River State. The road’s cost is estimated at $15‑17 million per kilometre, a figure that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called a “highway to fraud” and that rivals the combined 2024 budgets of all 36 Nigerian states.

Government officials say the project is funded through an EPC + F (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Financing) model, which they claim does not require annual budget inclusion. Works Minister David Umahi said the omission in the 2025 budget was an error, while other engineers echo the EPC + F rationale. Opposition leaders, including NDC presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Vice President Atiku, have demanded President Bola Tinubu’s resignation and called for investigations by the National Assembly, the Auditor‑General, the EFCC and the ICPC. The IMF warned that the lack of transparency hampers fiscal oversight and urged the government to bring all off‑budget spending into the formal budget framework.