Ondo coastal communities cry foul over Lagos-Calabar highway route diversion

Lawyers and other stakeholders from Ondo State have accused the Federal Ministry of Works of marginalizing coastal communities in Ilaje Local Government Area through the alleged diversion of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway inland through Edo State.

The stakeholders made the allegation at a press conference in Lagos on Thursday, where they called for the restoration of what they described as the original coastal alignment of the 700-kilometre highway project.

Led by an attorney-at-law, Dr Benson Enikuomehin, the group said the alleged diversion had excluded several coastal communities in Ondo State from a project originally conceived to connect communities along Nigeria’s coastline.

The affected communities, according to the stakeholders, include Ugbonla, Ilowo, Ilepete, Obe-Enikanoselu, Obe-Rewoye, Ikorigho, Jinrinwo, Awoye and Igho, among others.

They said the development was a concern because Ondo State has one of the longest coastlines among Nigeria’s coastal states, stretching between 80 and 100 kilometers, with the Ilaje people occupying virtually the entire coastline.

Enikuomehin said the highway was initially conceived as a coastal route connecting Lagos to Calabar through communities along the Atlantic shoreline.

He, however, alleged that the Federal Ministry of Works, under the supervision of the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, had altered the alignment in Ondo State, resulting in what he described as an inland route.

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According to him, the new alignment runs from Oke-Upare in Ondo State through Ovia North and Ovia West in Edo State to Gelegele before connecting Warri in Delta State.

He alleged that the alignment was designed to accommodate Gelegele, which the stakeholders claimed was located between 10 and 20 kilometres from the coastline.

“It is not in dispute that Edo State does not have a single coastal community that abuts the sea,” Enikuomehin said, questioning why the route should leave the Ondo coastline to accommodate a community farther inland.

The stakeholders also rejected the alleged argument by the Federal Government that constructing the highway through the Ilaje coastline would be more expensive because of the terrain.

They claimed that the proposed route through Ugbonla to Escravos in Delta State would cover about 60 to 75 kilometres, while the alternative route through Upare, Ovia West, Gelegele and Warri would stretch between 130 and 150 kilometres.

They estimated that construction through the Ilaje route would cost between N240 billion and N450 billion, compared with N970 billion and N1.5 trillion for the alleged Edo detour.

The figures could not be independently verified at the press conference.

The stakeholders also cited a 2010 Niger Delta Development Commission project for the 40-kilometre Ugbo-Oghoye Road, which they said was awarded for N19.4 billion, as evidence that construction in the area was technically feasible.

Enikuomehin argued that the Federal Government’s financial and technical capacity should enable it to address the engineering challenges associated with the terrain.

He said, “The Minister of Works should not bamboozle us with the high cost of the road because the cost of traversing through Upare-Ovia West-Gelegele-Warri is twice the cost of navigating the road through Ugbonla” and the other coastal communities.

The stakeholders also framed the controversy as an issue of equity and constitutional rights.

They alleged that the exclusion of the Ilaje communities amounted to discrimination based on ethnic group and place of origin, citing Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

They questioned why the highway could retain its coastal character in Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states but allegedly depart from the coastline upon reaching Ondo State.

“Are we to believe that the Ilaje people are being made sacrificial lambs to satisfy a particular ethnic group in Edo State?” they asked.

The group stressed that it was not opposed to Edo State benefiting from the Federal Government’s infrastructure programme but insisted that such benefits should not come at the expense of Ondo’s coastal communities.

The stakeholders therefore appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene and review the alignment.

They said restoring the coastal route would address what they described as an injustice to the Ilaje people and preserve the original economic and infrastructural rationale of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

They urged the President to “passionately look into the plight” of the affected communities and redress what they described as a “monumental injustice.”

The Federal Ministry of Works and Senator Umahi were not represented at the press conference, and the allegations against them could not be independently established from the material made available for the report.