Nigeria: Lagos-Calabar Highway - We Stand With Tinubu, but Don't Bypass Ondo Coast - Afenifere

What the report says

Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-political group, says it supports President Bola Tinubu’s Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project but wants the federal government to avoid routing the road in a way that leaves out Ondo State’s coastline. The comments were made in Akure by the group’s secretary-general, Sola Ebiseni, after a recent visit to Ondo by Works Minister David Umahi, according to the report published by Vanguard and distributed by AllAfrica.

Ebiseni said the minister’s visit to Igbokoda and Agerige in Ilaje Local Government Area showed the government was listening to local concerns. He said Afenifere had already written to Tinubu about the proposed alignment and welcomed the wider project as one that could cut travel time and improve transport links along the coast. He also said the group appreciated the administration’s decision to pursue the highway.

At the same time, Ebiseni objected to the current alignment described in the report, arguing that Ondo’s coastal terrain should not be treated as too difficult for construction. He said engineering solutions could address the challenges and pointed to long-standing coastal development experience in the Niger Delta as context for his view.

The report says Afenifere sees the highway as a major infrastructure project with possible economic benefits for coastal communities, but insists Ondo State’s interests be protected as the plan moves forward.