Lagos-Calabar Highway rerouted to save cables, 7,500 houses – Umahi

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has disclosed that the rerouting of the alignment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway was done to spare the submarine cables and 7,500 houses in the Okun Ajah community.

He said, “7,500 houses were saved by the intervention of the saving of submarine cables. By saving the cables, we saved the 7,500 houses. The Chief Executive Officer of Winhomes Global Services Limited, Stella Ifeoma, said that these 7,500 houses built on the gazette route should be destroyed. Why should we destroy them even though they were illegally built? But by saving the cables, which was compulsory in this regard, we saved the buildings. In addition, we went through virgin vegetation, and that’s what has happened.

“So, we have seen why we diverted from kilometre 13, saving the 7,500 houses of the Okun Ajah community, though they were illegally built on the gazetted land, but God says, ‘I am God; I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion. So, compassion and mercy visited the Okun Ajah community because of African Plus as directed by Mr. President.”

In a similar vein, the Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty, Ikechukwu Nnamani, commended the minister for not damaging the submarine cables and the houses in the Okun Ajah community.

“HiTech has been extremely supportive in terms of making sure that infrastructure is not damaged through their work. Today, we have about eight submarine cables serving Nigeria. All those cables come to Nigeria through the sea, and they are all located along that axis. When we were building the biggest and the most important one coming, primarily owned by Meta, it had a consortium of every other person with it. MTN is the leading partner in Nigeria for it, but all the major submarine cables are part of that.

We were building it at that locality, and when we got to know that it was for the coastal road and was meant to be taken out, we approached the Minister of Works, telling him these cables were there.

“And I must say that without spending a kobo, the minister listened to us and assisted us. Not only was the cable spared, but the 50-megawatt independent power project at Meta being built there to supply power to the entire locality and beyond was also spared. In addition, I also recognise the village that was also spared because some of them did not know what to do; even the Oba’s palace was spared.”

It was earlier reported that the Minister of Works had disclosed that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway would retain its original route in order to save submarine cables.

Umahi, at the 3rd stakeholders meeting on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway last year, announced that the Federal Government will abandon the proposed new route of the highway from kilometres 16 to 25 and revert to the original gazetted alignment.

This decision came after a two-hour session that included presentations and a question-and-answer segment with representatives of telecommunications companies, residents of the Okun Ajah community, and other stakeholders.

Umahi highlighted that reverting to the old alignment would result in the demolition of 7,500 houses, whereas the new alignment would lead to the demolition of 490 houses.

This decision was met with applause and relief from the Okun Ajah residents, who were concerned about the potential demolition of their properties and ancestral homes.

Umahi clarified that this decision was due to President Bola Tinubu’s intervention and not merely because of community pushback.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Controller of Works, Olukorede Kesha, disclosed that the Federal Government has slated 700 properties for demolition to pave the way for the project.

Kesha noted that the figure represents a substantial reduction from earlier projections.

“Instead of having to demolish about 1,500 houses, we took the most economical route. Now we are left with less than 700 houses to be demolished,” she said.