Nigeria’s Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has defended the federal government’s decision to proceed with the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, declaring that no harm was done to Landmark Group properties during the construction of the 30-kilometre stretch of the road.
Speaking at the official inauguration of the initial segment of the 750km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Umahi praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership and presented the completed 30km stretch as a “taste” of what the full project would look like upon completion.
“Mr. President, I want to state that we did no harm to Landmark properties,” Umahi asserted during his address. “In fact, as you are going, sir, you will see where this dual carriageway divided into two, by your order, to save as much infrastructure as possible, even though they violated the gazetted route.”
The minister emphasised that the highway was aligned with federal legal rights over coastal land. “The Landmark infrastructure are intact,” Umahi said. “What went off was their encroachment on our front shoreline, and the Supreme Court ruled that 250 metres from the shoreline belongs to the federal government. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
Umahi also questioned the Landmark Group’s reported $250 million investment on the contested land and called on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to investigate potential tax issues. “Why is the FIRS chairman not going after them for tax? You have to go after them,” he said.
He added that evidence existed to support the government’s position, noting: “They didn’t know that we videoed the existing route, and no single structure was there.”
Taking a jab at Landmark’s public campaign against the project, Umahi said: “The woman is making me very popular going to America, going to Canada — and I elected to give her money to go to London — because we do not care. We have Mr. President who has our back and we are moving forward.”
In a colorful metaphor comparing infrastructure development to cooking, Umahi described the 30km segment as a preview of the entire 750km project. “I remember when I was young and our mother used to cook, she would put Maggi, she would put crayfish, and she would now take the spoon and put it to her finger to taste. The Maggi there is Hitech, the crayfish there is Ministry of Works,” he said.
“Sir, today we are testing how the 750km will be completed,” he added. “We are giving you major projects, presidential projects. You have nine projects besides the coastal road that you will be commissioning.”
The 750-kilometre Lagos-Calabar highway, which spans multiple states along Nigeria’s southern corridor, is one of the administration’s flagship infrastructure projects, aimed at connecting key economic and tourism hubs.
Chioma Kalu
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