Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road: Shoreline never belonged to Landmark

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has said that the shoreline affected by the Lagos-Calabar coastal road never belonged to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Landmark Africa Group, Paul Onwuanibe.

According to Arise TV, Mr Umahi spoke at the second meeting with parties affected by the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, which was held on Wednesday in Lagos.

The planned infrastructure is designed to link the former capital city to Calabar, a port city near the border with Cameroon.

Landmark sits along the Atlantic Ocean beachfront in Lagos’s affluent Victoria Island area.

Some Landmark Beach Resort employees also protested the beach’s sand filling.

“The shoreline never belonged to Landmark; the owner, Onwuanibe, sublet it to people illegally,” the works minister said, insisting that Mr Onwuanibe’s infrastructure was unaffected.

Mr Umahi said the Landmark owner is “playing politics with politicians,” adding that “there is nothing to claim.”

“Mr President says that this development must have two factors. One is the fear of God, and the second is the human face, and that’s what we have tried to do.

“Since we came on Thursday, we have been going through the route every day from morning to about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. We’ve made hard decisions. In some cases, we have followed the gazetted routes. In other cases, we have realigned to the coastal line, majorly. And the coastal line from the shore, 250 metres by the Supreme Court judgment, belongs to the federal government.

“I talk in particular about Landmark. There is none of his infrastructure that is affected. I agree that there are some people he subleased the place to, but the shoreline was never given to him by the Oniru family. These people he sublet to, he erected some caravans, makeshifts, so on and so forth within the shoreline. So, we are dealing with these people who sublet the shoreline illegally,” Mr Umahi said.

The minister challenged Landmark to provide documentation to lay claims to the shorelines.

“I have asked him to bring his documents. I challenge him and his co-politicians; let him flash the documents before the press,” he said.

Umahi chides Obi

Mr Umahi also addressed criticism of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi.

The former Anambra governor had described the demolition of structures for the project as “insensitive” and “heart-wrenching.”

“A similar scenario occurred when Peter Obi was governor and he made a statement. He said, ‘Any infrastructure that stands in the way of road construction must go and there will be no compensation paid.’ That’s what he said. But look at me, by the human face of the Renewed Hope Agenda administration, we are even paying for people that are illegally staying on the coastline and do not even have valid infrastructure and valid documents. That is mercy.

“You know some people counsel without knowledge. When you condemn people, you bring judgment upon yourself. And that’s what he has done,” the minister said.

Benefits of the coastal road

The works minister said that the coastal road will enable people to travel with ease.

“…anyone traveling from Sokoto to Lagos will do it in about 10 hours and traveling from south-east to Abuja will be a maximum of five hours. These are the benefits of the coastal road.

He noted that the roads will be constructed with concrete pavement and will drive foreign investment into the country, which will in turn strengthen the Naira.

He also said that the coastal road will be an “evacuation corridor for the Lagos deep seaport.”