Former Cross River State Governor Donald Duke has dismissed Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri as a “local champion” following a public disagreement over the viability and immense cost of the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The heated exchange erupted after Duke questioned the engineering feasibility of routing the multi-billion-naira highway through the notoriously swampy terrain of Bayelsa State during an appearance on Arise Television’s “The Morning Show”.
In response to Duke’s initial critique, Governor Diri fired back through his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Alabrah, asserting that Duke was completely out of touch with modern engineering achievements and infrastructural advancements taking place within Bayelsa.
Diri maintained that the former governor lacked a clear understanding of the state’s current capacity to execute complex road construction projects despite its challenging geographical landscape.
Unfazed by the rebuke, Duke doubled down on his assertions during the interview, arguing that Diri was examining the monumental infrastructure undertaking through a narrow, state-level lens rather than evaluating its broader macroeconomic impact on a debt-strapped Nigeria.
Duke, is the presidential candidate for the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), emphasized that his regional roots in the South-South geopolitical zone did not blind him to the fiscal realities facing the nation as a whole.
The former Cross River leader stressed that Nigeria simply lacks the financial liquidity to sustain such an ambitious capital project without falling deeper into unsustainable debt, noting that the government is already heavily reliant on borrowing just to fund preliminary phases like the Epe stretch.
Furthermore, Duke questioned the strategic planning behind the federal government’s recent decision to divert parts of the highway toward the existing East-West Road, pointedly asking why planners failed to factor in pre-existing infrastructure from the very beginning.
The clash highlights ongoing debates among Nigeria’s political class regarding national budget priorities, infrastructural scaling, and fiscal prudence.
As the controversy surrounding the coastal highway continues to draw diverse opinions from regional leaders and economic analysts, the fundamental question of how Nigeria balances massive capital expenditure against mounting national debt remains a central point of contention.
