Works Minister, Umahi Engages Stakeholders To Inspect Lagos Calabar Coastal Road.

• As Minister, stakeholders debunks Winhomes’ $250m Property Destruction Claim after on the spot inspection

 

The Honourable Minister of Works, His Excellency, Sen. Engr. Nweze David Umahi, CON, FNSE, FNATE on Monday took an inspection tour of the ongoing Lagos-Calabar coastal road, taking along some members of the opposition party, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Civil Society Group and other members of the public to inspect the progress made on the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway.

The minister charged the Media and Civil Society Groups, to open a full scale investigation on illegal land acquisition, particularly the alleged $250 million disapora remittances sunk into real estate investments by Winhomes properties owned by Engr. Stella Okengwu, who alleged that the Federal government demolished her multi-million-dollar investment along the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway corridors to make way for the gazetted alignment of the coastal highway project.

Umahi affirmed that the principle of overriding public interest in cases of land acquisition for infrastructure projects were duly followed in the context of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, but faced opposition from developers, realtors and some property owners.

Umahi added that the Presidency believes that national development takes priority over individual land ownership in such situations.

He emphasized that Winhomes Global Properties has been holding social media engagements in various foras in diaspora to de-market the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Works on the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project to foreign audiences where she asserted that her diaspora investment of over $250 million at the Okun Ajah axis of the coastline road was demolished by the Nigerian government.

The minister cautioned the diaspora investors to stop engaging in bully tactics, innuendoes, conjectures and sensational reporting of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, adding that the Ministry is open for inspection, scrutiny and transparent policy.

The inspection tour had a stop over to inspect the Winhomes property located at Kilometre 18 of the Coastal road, where the stakeholders saw only bare land without any noticeable structure other than some few metres of fencing and water drainage on it.

Speaking at the Winhomes site, Umahi informed the Journalist on tour: “as you can see there’s nothing near the $250 million diasporan investments here,” stressing that it is just a cyber-bullying attempt to send propaganda to the Ministry and de-market the Ministers efforts in boosting road infrastructure projects in the country.

Mrs Okengwu, according to the Minister had claimed that officials of the Ministry of Works demanded bribes to prevent the demolition of her property, and that the original gazetted alignment of the coastal highway was compromised after some developers allegedly bribed for approvals to adjust the route.

Umahi said, he will petition the Department for State Security (DSS), and The Economic and Financial Crime Commission to investigate the alleged Land scams by the Ministry of Works.

He added that he will also petition the USA embassy to repatriate Stella Okengwu to defend her claims while urging civil society groups to report factual information on the coastal road.

Umahi explained that Winhomes property developer claimed she bought the 12 hectares of land for N50 million in 2022 adding that the land wouldn’t have been sold for such worthless amount

He noted that she was evacuated from the coastal highway corridors when the ministry realized the land had MTN Submarine cables running through it.

Speaking on the pace of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, Umahi disclosed that the construction of the concrete roads has led to the sharp reduction of bitumen into the country adding that the value chain of the coastal road project is big such that investment in bitumen business is disintegrating as concrete roads had taken over road construction sector in Nigeria.

The minister also emphasized on the progress of work along Sections 1 and 2 of the project, adding that there was no damage to completed works despite ongoing sandfilling and heavy rainfall.

He affirmed that rainwater had even aided soil consolidation, while only 2.5 kilometres of challenging storm water areas were still under construction and commended Hitech Construction Company for its pace of work on section 2, where over 12 kilometres of concrete pavement had been completed and concreting was set to extend to chainage 89 shortly.

Speaking during the inspection tour, Otunba Segun Showunmi, a PDP Stalwart, said there is no linkage of fraud between the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, stressing that the project upon completion will drive investment and attract foreign direct investments to the country.

According to Showunmi, “Its a new dawn as Nigeria will now compete with Dubai, Singapore, China and some developed countries. We need to build consensus around development.”

On his part, Com. Declean Ihekaire, an activist on local governance, who had led earlier a protest in Lagos and Abuja based on Winhome’s allegation said at the point of inspection of the site of Winhome that he wants to tell Nigerians that and the entire world that he was stepping at the Winhome site for the first time.

“What we are seeing here is below our expectation because I expected to see structures that were erected on the land, probably some pulled down that could have been evidential, but none in this case. I am putting it to Stella Okengwu that if by two weeks I don’t see more evidence from her that as a member of the civil society group, we will address a world press conference that we will not tolerate this in this country,” Ihekaire emphasized.

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