the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has advised the Federal Government to halt and review the project after several calls by some Nigerians to re-examine the socio-economic and environmental impact of the road.
In a statement by its Publicity Department, Prince Justice Faloye, the Afenifere said it is sad that “despite numerous complaints and objections, the federal government has refused to listen and review the 700 km Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway, but instead is rushing headlong into the project. The $13 billion Lagos-Calar project is not only environmentally and economically destructive, but also irrationally replaces the 1,400km $12 billion Lagos-Calabar railway project along East-West Road, adjudged to be the single most important economically empowering infrastructural development project in Southern Nigeria in over 100 years, commissioned by both the Jonathan (2014) and Buhari (2021) governments.
“The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project must be re-examined, for not only breaching competitive tendering stipulations but for also contravening the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, as stipulated in EIA Decree No. 86 of 1992, which places the project type in Category 1 and affecting the natural environment, making an ESIA report mandatory before commencement.”
Afenifere continued: “The 2021 Environmental Assessment Procedures and Charges would have taken six months from May 29 when this administration came to power to secure a genuine approval report, involving a series of stakeholders’ meetings, multiple visits and studies of the environment to be impacted by the highway. The project, in essence, will affect the natural fauna, the coastal mangrove swamps that serve as natural barriers against tidal waves.”
Afenifere asked if the contract awarded in September 2023 had an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and a separate RAP (Resettlement Action Plan) done, as stipulated by law, to know the effects on existing businesses and the beaches of the area.”
