6 Deals That Joined Gilbert Chagoury With Tinubu

While Tinubu held sway in the southwest, especially in Lagos he governed for eight years, his dalliance with the high and mighty got him many eyeballs. His noise didn’t spread exactly across the nation.

But his first major move, since he got to the centre, favoured his most-enduring cronies. His critics have since brought down the roof.

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway contract award to Hi-tech, one of the business concerns of his billionaire associates Gilbert and Ronald Chagoury, came as the sixth.

Over the years, Tinubu has made many political decisions that got the two Lebanese-Nigerians tons of money.

Below are the major ones:

The Bar Beach Shoreline Protection project, 2006

Tinubu had buttoned up the contract process in the twilight of his second term. And Hi-Tech spent years executing the project in the administration of Babatunde Fashola. It gulped $3.1 billion back then. The contractor described it as a highly successful attempt in protecting the shoreline along the coastal area on Victoria Island. It could have protected more of the Chagoury’s interest, too

Eko Atlantic City , 2009 

The shoreline protection became critical to the success of a more ambitious project of the brothers: The Atlantic City, $6-billion flat. They described it as  a dynamic new city that would rise from the Atlantic Ocean, adjacent to Victoria Island. The initial billion spent on flood protection made sense then. Another of the Chagoury Group, South Energyx Nigeria Ltd spearheaded the venture. They reclaimed 10 million square meters from the ocean, and sold them to buyers. No fewer than 50 Towers would eventually rise up the skyline there.

Eko Atlantic City bridges, 2017

As of 2021, the company had sold 75 percent of the reclaimed land, and built 15 bridges to facilitate a free flow of traffic. Hi-tech handled them all.  The company claimed the  technology, materials, and methodology used in the construction of the bridges resemble those of the Ajah Flyover previously mentioned.

Lekki Epe Expressway Construction

The 30-year concession initially fell to ARM in a PPP deal during Fasola’s administration in 2009. HI-tech eventually worked its way in, and got road construction deals along the Lekki-Epe corridor.

Oshodi-Airport Roads and Bridges

The award took place under Gov Akinwunmi Ambode in 2019. The Oshodi-Airport Road project included three express lanes, two service lanes, five pedestrian bridges, one u-turn, and one fly-over. Hi-tech handled them all—for N22.4 billion.