Human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN, has called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene and call the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to order over the reported realignment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway away from coastal communities in Ondo and Delta States.
The senior lawyer made the call in a lengthy statement issued on Monday.
According to Adegboruwa, the highway was conceived as a transformative 700-kilometre corridor to connect economic centres along Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline when it was flagged off in May 2024, and shifting sections inland raises legitimate questions about whether its original development objectives are being lost.
He warned that abandoning coastal communities would deprive them of direct economic benefits.
The senior lawyer noted that Ondo and Delta have significant coastal resources including fishing grounds, maritime opportunities and tourism assets, with livelihoods dependent on access to the Atlantic.
For people of Ilaje and other coastal settlements, he said, the concern is whether the promise of national infrastructure will translate into tangible development, describing the reported realignment as nothing short of sabotage.
Adegboruwa argued that a highway conceived as a coastal economic corridor should be judged not only by kilometres built but by how well it connects coastal communities, supports maritime commerce, promotes tourism and stimulates shoreline development.
While acknowledging government’s citation of difficult terrain, weak subsoil, construction costs and flood resilience as reasons for reviewing the alignment, he said such challenges should prompt careful evaluation of alternatives rather than automatic loss of coastal access, noting that there is nothing special about the coastlines of Ondo and Delta when compared with Lagos.
On economic consequences, he said bypassing important coastal settlements could reduce opportunities for fisheries, agricultural distribution, maritime services and related industries to attract private investment and participate fully in expected benefits.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to commission a comparative assessment of the coastal and revised inland routes examining construction and maintenance costs, journey times, environmental implications, employment and commercial opportunities to establish which option provides greater public benefit.
He also stressed environmental protection and climate resilience, urging that every proposed alignment be supported by appropriate environmental and social impact assessments covering coastal erosion, flooding, wetlands, mangrove ecosystems, fisheries and future flood exposure.
He called on the government to make findings of technical and environmental studies public and consult affected communities before finalising major changes.
Adegboruwa warned that a major national infrastructure project should promote balanced development and that excluding coastal settlements in Ondo and Delta could make distribution of opportunities uneven and create competition among communities.
He therefore appealed to President Tinubu to order an independent technical review of the realignment affecting Ondo and Delta, direct the Ministry of Works to publish a clear explanation of the approved alignment and the coastal communities that will be directly served or bypassed, and consider restoring or retaining a viable coastal alignment wherever technically, environmentally and economically feasible.
He further urged the president to convene a stakeholder consultation involving federal and state governments, traditional rulers, coastal community representatives, engineers, environmental experts and investors, require a transparent comparison of alternative routes including costs, environmental and social impacts and expected economic benefits, provide complementary access roads and economic infrastructure for any coastal communities that cannot be served directly, and ensure equitable distribution of employment, local enterprise opportunities and transport connectivity.
According to him, the success of the coastal highway should be measured not only by speed of construction but by its long-term contribution to national integration, regional development, environmental sustainability and welfare of communities along its corridor, adding that a coastal highway should create opportunities for coastal communities, not leave them wondering whether the promise of development has passed them by.
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