For Landmark Group, known as a one-stop ecosystem and one of West Africa’s largest business, leisure, and lifestyle destinations, Monday, April 29, 2024, will be a day to remember.
The federal government’s bulldozer visited its beach resort, reducing some businesses to mere rubble.
The government is constructing a 700-kilometer coastal highway from Lagos, connecting nine coastal states, and ending in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
To create the right of way for the estimated N15 trillion project, all properties along the highway and within its right of way must give way. The Landmark Beach Resort, valued at $200 million, is one of these properties. Mami Chula Beach Lifestyle is another.
After the demolition, a visibly worried Paul Onwuanibe, the Group CEO of Landmark, told our source that about 70 percent of the beach was destroyed by the government bulldozer, describing the action as “insensitive.”
READ ALSO: Lagos State Plans Demolition of $200 Million Landmark Beach Resort for Coastal Highway Project
“What is left of these businesses are the rubbles you can see (in video clips he captured while the demolition was going on). Those are people’s investment and means of livelihood reduced to mere rubble; so many jobs have been lost, and many Nigerian families are in for it,” Onwuanibe said.
David Umahi, the minister of works, had stated over the weekend that nothing would stop the federal government from claiming the right of way for the coastal highway, explaining the demolition of Landmark Beach and many other properties in the days ahead.
Though the minister assured that the government would pay adequate compensation for destroyed properties where necessary, some Nigerians have reacted differently to the ongoing demolition and destruction of homes and businesses, suggesting that rerouting the coastal road could have been an option.
READ ALSO: Federal Government in Talks with AfDB for Coastal and Trans-Saharan Highways Funding
In a tweet, Edwin Okon Jnr expressed his dismay, stating, “seeing a huge investment like Landmark Beach getting destroyed is sickening. $200m investment with yearly tax remittances of N2 billion to the Lagos State government getting bulldozed just like that… It’s pathetic.”
Another Nigerian, Emecs @euohanu, questioned whether an Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was conducted for the project and what mitigation measures were outlined in the report. He suggested that the government might be contravening its own laws by not carrying out an ESIA.
However, some Nigerians look beyond the demolition of properties to the overriding public interest of the coastal road. One concerned Nigerian, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “Something must give way to the right of way.”
Bolaji Ariyo, CEO of Mami Chula Beach Lifestyle, which was demolished on Saturday, expressed a similar view, stating that he stood with the project’s vision “even if it causes inconvenience for some of us.”
He added that as the government promises to make life easy for all Nigerians, some people must be affected, noting that those affected are not up to the millions that will enjoy the coastal road. “That’s why people like me have taken it to heart to also support the federal government and the minister to ensure that this road comes to life,” he said.
