President Bola Tinubu’s commissioning of a mere 30 kilometres out of the proposed 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as a major achievement is a troubling display of political grandstanding.
Development Diaries reports that to mark two years in office, the president recently commissioned the completed 30-kilometre portion of the road project, several others, as well as the construction of new roads in the southern region.
Also, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, praised the scope and significance of the project and described the highway as a gamechanger that not only connects nine littoral states but also unlocks vital trade and industrial corridors.
While infrastructure development is critical and should be applauded when due, celebrating a symbolic fragment of a massive national project distorts the public’s perception of progress.
A project of such magnitude, positioned as a transformative economic corridor for nine coastal states and a driver of $12 billion annual GDP contribution, should not be reduced to a ribbon-cutting moment over a barely begun journey.
When performance is overshadowed by political optics, public confidence suffers.
In truth, premature commissionings like this one risk doing more harm than good, as they distort the public’s understanding of where we are versus where we are going.
Worse still, they threaten the already fragile trust citizens have in government promises. The optics may be dazzling, but the message sent is clear: political capital is being prioritised over people’s needs. And when people start to feel used instead of served, democracy suffers.
Nigerians are no strangers to projects that receive grand launches but stall shortly afterward, leaving communities stranded in the dust of unmet promises.
The culture of commissioning incomplete projects breeds cynicism and reinforces the belief that government announcements are more about headlines than results.
Furthermore, this recent fanfare over 30 kilometres undermines not just the credibility of the project but also the trust that citizens place in the federal government’s broader development agenda.
The concerns raised by civil society groups such as the Network for the Actualisation of Social Growth and Viable Development (NEFGAD) are valid.
Their call for accountability and rejection of symbolic progress is a reminder that democracy is not just about votes but about visible, verifiable outcomes.
What Nigerians need is not a ceremony every time a few kilometres are paved, but a credible, transparent tracking system for infrastructure projects.
The Ministry of Works must take responsibility for setting measurable milestones and communicating them clearly to the public.
We cannot build national development on press statements and premature applause. Infrastructure must serve people, not press kits, and when the government cries ‘mission accomplished’ too early, it risks turning hope into yet another pothole on the road to progress.
Development Diaries therefore calls on the Minister of Works, Umahi, to publish the project’s timelines and expected milestones for tracking progress of work.
Photo source: Presidency Nigeria
