Ebiseni commends Tinubu over prompt response to Ondo coastal highway concerns

The Secretary-General of Afenifere, the apex Yoruba socio-political organisation, Chief Sola Ebiseni, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the prompt response to concerns over the Ondo State section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Ebiseni described the recent visit of the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area, and Agerige along the Ondo section of the highway as a “most commendable hallmark of democracy”.

Speaking with newsmen in Akure at the weekend, Ebiseni said Umahi’s unscheduled visit, coming within a week of Afenifere’s open letter to President Tinubu, demonstrated the administration’s responsiveness to concerns raised by stakeholders.

He said, “The unscheduled visit of the Honourable Minister to Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje Local Government, and Agerige along the route of the Ondo State sector within a week of our engagement with the President in an open letter is most commendable and a hallmark of democracy.”

Ebiseni said the people of the state remained appreciative of the President and his administration for initiating the coastal highway project, contrary to suggestions that some stakeholders did not believe in its feasibility.

He said, as a coastal Yoruba people, the Ilaje community understood its terrain and had supported the concept of the highway from its inception.

“As a coastal Yoruba tribe, we know our terrain and believe in the concept and feasibility of the road from day one and have looked forward to it with agitated enthusiasm,” he said.

According to him, the project would significantly reduce travelling time between Lagos and Ondo State while also opening up the coastal communities to greater economic opportunities.

Ebiseni, however, reiterated Afenifere’s concern that about 100 kilometres of Ondo State’s coastline had been bypassed in the current alignment of the project, despite the original intention of the coastal highway.

He said the organisation had petitioned the President because the proposed route did not adequately cover Ondo State’s coastline, which extends towards the Itsekiri communities in Delta State.

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“We quoted the Minister to have said that 100 kilometres of the road had been approved to connect the neighbouring Edo, which is not a littoral state, and we reasoned that this was the unacceptable reason for bypassing the entire coastline of Ondo State, though without prejudice to the benefits of our neighbour,” he said.

Ebiseni said the Ilaje portion of the highway was particularly significant because of its length and location, adding that Umahi had confirmed during his visit that President Tinubu’s directive was for the highway to run two kilometres parallel to the Atlantic.

He said the minister also explained that the coastal alignment was altered in Ondo State because of soil challenges which he described as peculiar to the environment.

Ebiseni, however, rejected the suggestion that the terrain was too difficult to overcome.

“Of course, we are educated here and most conversant with our environment and its challenges, which are neither peculiar nor insurmountable,” he said.

He recalled that coastal communities such as Aiyetoro had, since the early 1970s, sponsored youths to study similar terrains in other countries, although the knowledge acquired had not been sufficiently applied because of inadequate government support.

Ebiseni also cited historical and contemporary engineering projects in coastal areas, including the laying of telegraph poles and cables across the region in the early 20th century, the development of Victoria Island and more recent efforts to reclaim land from the Atlantic.

He further noted that international oil companies had established facilities on similar terrains across the Niger Delta.

The Afenifere leader therefore urged the Federal Government not to allow the environmental challenges in the Ondo coastal area to undermine the original vision of the highway.

He described the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as a “one-in-a-generation” project capable of transforming infrastructure and economic activities across the Niger Delta.

He said “We are the Yoruba tribe of the Niger Delta. This project is one in a generation.

“We will not be assuaged by any lecture in civil engineering in the 21st century that our environment cannot be developed,”

Ebiseni reaffirmed his support for the Tinubu administration, saying the President’s interventions in the region had given the people renewed hope.

“This President has come to our environment working and giving us hope and we stand by him in the execution of the project and in all his endeavours,” he added