Lagos-Calabar highway compensation to cost N15tn-FG

The Federal Government, on Thursday, confirmed that it would pay compensation to all property owners along the path the 700km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway would be passing through across nine states.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, who said President Bola Tinubu had approved the payment of compensation to all affected property owners, also listed the necessary requirements and conditions affected residents must meet to qualify for the compensation.

While clarifying that the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal Highway would tentatively gulp N15.36tn or N4.39bn per kilometre, the minister said the government had extended the eviction notice for property owners affected in the multi-trillion naira project. 

He also said the legacy project would be delivered in eight years. The 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project is designed to connect Lagos to Cross River, passing through the coastal states of Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, before culminating in Cross River.

Umahi, while speaking at a stakeholders meeting with affected residents in Lagos, said that the works ministry would only provide compensation to deserving individuals based on approved documents. He said an environmental impact assessment valuation had been concluded on the affected buildings, noting that owners of shanties and illegal buildings would not be paid.