Post by Ben Akintunde OGOH (@BabaBen)

COASTAL ROAD DIVERSION: TINUBU MUST EXPLAIN THE ABANDONMENT OF THE ILAJE AXIS

With an estimated $11 billion committed to the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, the Federal Government owes Nigerians a convincing explanation for any major deviation from the Ondo coastline. The concerns of Ilaje, Ijaw and Itsekiri communities cannot be dismissed with vague excuses about cost, terrain or climate change.

The controversy surrounding the alignment of the Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway raises a fundamental questions about the priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration: Is this project genuinely intended to connect Nigeria's coastal communities, stimulate economic development and open up neglected territories, or is its principal purpose to serve established commercial interests around Lagos and neighbouring parts of Ogun State?

The Federal Government on the watch of President Bola Tinubu must answer this question with facts, not political rhetori

For the people of Ilaje in Ondo State, as well as Ijaw and Itsekiri communities in Delta State, the coastal highway represents more than a stretch of asphalt. It offers the prospect of improved transportation, expanded commerce, employment, tourism, fishing-related investment and access to communities that have endured decades of infrastructural neglect.

Any proposed diversion away from these communities therefore demands transparent technical justification and meaningful public consultation.

WHY SHOULD THE COASTLINE BE ABANDONED?

Works Minister David Umahi and the Federal Government must explain the engineering, environmental and economic considerations behind any decision to alter the highway's alignment.

If difficult terrain is the argument, what comprehensive engineering assessments have been conducted? If flooding, marshland or climate change presents a challenge, what alternatives were examined? What would it cost to reinforce vulnerable sections, construct appropriate drainage systems, elevate embankments or deploy other engineering solutions suited to coastal conditions?

These are legitimate questions for a government undertaking a project of national importance.

Nigeria cannot invoke climate change as a convenient justification for excluding communities from infrastructure intended to transform their economic circumstances. Climate change is a genuine engineering challenge, but it is also a reason to invest in resilient infrastructure.

The relevant question is not whether coastal terrain presents difficulties. It does. The question is whether those difficulties have been assessed objectively against the long-term economic and social benefits of serving the affected communities.

THE MOROCCAN COMPARISON

Reports concerning Morocco's approximately 1,050-kilometre Atlantic coastal highway, reportedly constructed at a cost of slightly more than $1 billion, have intensified public scrutiny of Nigeria's much more expensive coastal highway project.

The comparison deserves investigation. However, the Federal Government should publish independently verifiable figures establishing the respective projects' actual costs, completed lengths, technical specifications, financing arrangements and scope of work before either project is used as a definitive benchmark for the other.

Differences in terrain, road design, bridges, land acquisition, financing and other infrastructure can substantially affect construction costs.

Nevertheless, these differences cannot excuse secrecy. If Nigeria's coastal highway is estimated to cost approximately $11 billion, Nigerians deserve a detailed explanation of how that figure was calculated, what it covers and how the government intends to ensure value for money.

A project of this financial magnitude must withstand rigorous public scrutiny.

IS IT JUST LAGOS - OGUN COASTAL ROAD OR WHAT?

The fear that the highway could disproportionately benefit Lagos and adjoining commercial centres at the expense of neglected coastal communities deserves a direct response.

Lagos is an important economic centre, and its infrastructure needs are undeniable. But national infrastructure must not become a mechanism for deepening existing regional inequalities.

Ilaje communities have legitimate expectations of development. Ijaw and Itsekiri communities in Delta State also deserve infrastructure that connects their people to markets, services and economic opportunities.

The Federal Government must demonstrate how the highway's alignment will distribute benefits across the coastal corridor. It should publish the approved route, the alternatives considered, the environmental impact assessments and the economic justification for the final decision.

If the Ondo axis has been excluded or substantially altered, the government must explain why and disclose the evidence supporting that decision.

Development cannot be equitable when communities are asked to accept exclusion without explanation. And Ilaje land will not accept this insult.

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