Communities in Okun-Ajah area of Lagos affected by the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, on Wednesday, renewed their appeal to the federal government to reconsider the realignment in the design of the highway.
The community leaders, who made the appeal as the federal government commenced payment of compensation to some affected property owners in Victoria Island, said the new road design deviated from the original plan and would wipe off entire communities if implemented.
A member of the Baale in Council in Okun-Ajah, Chief Saheed Ologunro said “the new alignment is affecting the whole village; the existing village has been there for more than two hundred years. We want the federal government to maintain the initial plan of Lagos state. We all know the Lagos state has already mapped out the coastal road and we have been avoiding it. Now they are having a new alignment that encroach the whole village. The whole community is finished by the new alignment.
Chief Ologunro said it was wrong for the Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi to refer to their village as a shanty, saying, “Is it because we don’t have mansions? Is it because we have only room and parlour? We are appealing to them to maintain the initial plan from Lagos state.”
The community leader said if their plea fell on deaf ears, the community would resort to legal means to address their concerns.
A landlord in Okun-Ajah, Mr Augustine Nwabueze, whose property was also affected by the coastal highway project, said, “As of 2006 when we moved in there, the route for the coastal road was already demarcated. A C-of-O (land document issued by the state) covers the land most of us built. Surprisingly, there is a deviation from the approved coastal road to the approved C-of-O land.”
He appealed to the federal government to have a rethink because they did not do anything wrong by obeying the law by conducting a search before building their houses.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi on Wednesday began payment of compensation to some affected property owners on the Right of Way for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project in Lagos.
Two point seven-five billion naira will be paid out to those affected and enumerated on the three kilometre stretch of demolition carried out so far.
The Minister of Works, Mr David Umahi who launched the payment at a brief ceremony in Victoria Island, also unveiled a new design of routes stretching seven hundred kilometres for the Coastal Highway Project.
Mr Umahi reiterated that the redesign of alignments would continue to be done with minimal economic losses, in line with the directive of President Bola Tinubu that the fear of God and human face be applied for the exercise.
He reassured that the Coastal Highway Project was one of the tough decisions of the President Bola Tinubu administration but which will bring about economic revolution for the country.
The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos and Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Mrs Olukorede Kesha, assured that payments would continue at the Secretariat of the Committee, assuring that everyone captured would be paid.
Speaking on behalf of the compensated property owners, Mr Bolaji Ariyo considered to be worst affected by the demolition, said it was not easy losing an investment but is consoled by the fact that it will be a project that will be beneficial to the majority of Nigerians.
The event attracted numerous stakeholders, including representatives of traditional rulers, property owners and civil society organisations.
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