…fault diversion of Lagos-Calabar highway route

A committee of lawyers and stakeholders has strongly condemned the alleged intentional marginalisation and exclusion of Ondo State’s coastal communities from the ongoing Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene and redress the situation.

Addressing a briefing in Lagos on Thursday, the coalition criticized the Federal Ministry of Works, under the supervision of Minister Senator David Umahi, for altering the project’s original alignment.

While commending President Tinubu’s bold initiative in February 2024 to revive the coastal highway project—which spans about 700 kilometers across nine states—the stakeholders expressed deep shock that more than 60 per cent of coastal communities in the Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State have been bypassed and sidelined.

Speaking, Dr Benson Enikuomehin, an attorney-at-law stated that Ondo State boasts the longest coastline in Nigeria, stretching between 80 to 100 kilometers and exclusively occupied by the Ilaje people of the Yoruba ethnic group.

He noted that communities such as Ugbonla, Ilowo, Ilepete, Obe-Enikanoselu, Obe-Rewoye, Ikorigho, Jinrinwo, Awoye, and Igho fall squarely within the initial coastal route.

However, he claimed that the route has been rebranded as an “Inland Highway” upon reaching Ondo State, diverting through Oke-Upare to link communities in Ovia North and Ovia West of Edo State to accommodate Gelegele, a community located 10 to 20 kilometers away from the coastline.

Challenging the Ministry’s defense that navigating through the Ilaje coastline is economically exorbitant, the Enikuomehin argued that the inland detour through Edo State nearly doubles the physical footprint and significantly inflates project costs.

“Available and indisputable facts reveal that navigating the road through Ugbonla in Ondo State to Escravos in Delta (on a straight line) will take about 60 to 75km, whereas the detour to inland in Edo from Ebute-Ipare-Ovia North, Ovia West to Gelegele in Edo State to Warri in Delta is about 130 to 150km,” he stated.

The committee estimated that constructing the road via the Ugbonla route would cost between N240 billion and N450 billion, compared to the Edo State detour, which they projected at N970 billion to N1.5 trillion.

The stakeholders maintained that the action violates Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), which prohibits discrimination based on ethnic group or place of origin.

They appealed to President Tinubu to examine the plight of the Ilaje people and realign the highway to its true coastal path.

” If the Federal Government of Nigeria cannot construct this road through the Ilaje community, is it the councillor from the community that will embark on the road project?

“Diverting the road therefore to Edo State is a calculated attempt to marginalize and victimize the coastal communities of Ondo State. While we are not opposed to Edo State benefitting from this project, we strongly maintain that the road must remain coastal through Ondo State, passing through Ilaje communities on the coast. It is unfair, unjust and indeed very wicked to take the road through 20 – 30km from the sea when it gets to the Ondo State section.

“The Minister of works should not bamboozle us with the high cost of the road because the cost of traversing through Upare – Ovia West – Gele-Gele – Warri is twice the cost of navigating the road through Ugbonla, Ilowo, Ilepete, Obe-Enikanoselu, Obe-Rewoye, Ikorigho, Jinrinwo, Awoye, Igho etc to Escravos in Delta State.

“We perceive that the Ilaje communities are being discriminated against to satisfy a particular ethnic group in Edo State.

“The Minister of works should come out clean on his motive in advising Mr. President to change his mind in making the road un-coastal in the Ondo section, but same to remain coastal in other states such as Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Cross River. Are we to believe that the Ilaje people are being made sacrificial lambs to satisfy a particular ethnic group in Edo State whose community has no boundary whatsoever with the coast?

“What interests is the Minister of Works serving by making the Highway un-coastal in the Ondo State section? Is it a crime that the Ilajes(Yoruba Ethnic group) constitute exclusively the coastal communities of Ondo State? It is only the Minister of Works that can provide answers to these questions.”