The Okun-Ajah Community has expressed fears over the potential demolition of 2,000 houses to pave the way for the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.
The community, through its traditional ruler, Chief Sikiru Okanlawon, and its secretary, Balogun Kamorudeen, insisted that the community was not on the Federal Government’s right of way and should be spared.
The PUNCH reports that the 700-kilometre stretch of road infrastructure, which will span eight years to complete, will gulp up to N15tn.
Despite the FG’s plans for compensation, many property owners and communities have accused the Ministry of Works of unfair treatment concerning the demolition of structures along the Lagos-Calabar coastal route.
The House of Representatives is also probing the award of the N15tn contract to find out if procurement procedures were adhered to. This is according to the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda, who revealed this to one of our correspondents last week.
The Okun-Ajah community, in a statement obtained Sunday, called on President Bola Tinubu, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, lawmakers representing the Eti-Osa Local Government Area and the Nigerian Bar Association, among others, to come to its rescue.
They said, “Sometime in 2006, the Okun-Ajah Community was granted a Certificate of Occupancy over their communal land in Okun-Ajah. The Survey Plan attached to the Certificate of Occupancy depicted the portion of the communal land earmarked for the then-proposed coastal road. Knowing fully well that some portion of the land had been committed to a federal project, members of the community avoided building on the right of way earmarked for the coastal road.”
The community leaders, however, said a recent road alignment had now been redirected to the residential part of Okun-Ajah “which will lead to the demolition of over 2,000 houses, including our ancestral homes and our Oba’s palace.
“This is the reason the Okun-Ajah people are calling on Nigerians to prevail on the minister to reconsider his proposed action.”
The statement said the Okun-Ajah people were also calling on President Tinubu to urgently investigate the circumstances leading to the “jettisoning” of a second road alignment which was much freer for building development and the adoption of a third road alignment “which will lead to the demolition of over 2,000 houses and the Baale’s palace.”