After Demolition of some sections of Landmark Beach, the Federal Government of Nigeria has announced its decision to disembark from the proposed Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway realignment.
The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi who disclosed this at the 3rd Stakeholders Meeting in Lagos on Thursday, said the proposed diversion would no longer happen due to the submarine cables along the coastline. This means the Lagos-Calabar Highway will be rerouted back to its original path for a distance of 9 kilometers, moving away from the shoreline.
He said, “We have three critical infrastructure that are located on one spot. One is the 2Africa submarine cable that cuts across 33 countries connecting about three billion people. That cable landed at Mopo and where it landed, the West African cable systems (WACS) had already been located there about 17 years ago.
“We have a mega IPP which is to provide power to the 2Africa cable and the WACS cable. The power plant is a 50 megawatt power plant expected to support this infrastructure.
“The (new) corridor is passing right on the submarine cable and the other side is on the IPP. You cannot have the submarine cables without power. They will not function. The submarine cable is a critical national security infrastructure. If it is affected, everybody will be affected,”
“Two months ago, there was a challenge as far as Cote d’Ivoire but a significant part of Africa was blanked out. Our appeal today is in view of the fact that this is not just a private project, it’s a national project, it’s the internet gateway to the nation and it’s linked to national security.
“We are therefore appealing that for this critical infrastructure located at Mopo, that the road be diverted back to the original gazette.
“We welcome and commend the federal government for building this road, we think this is a major national infrastructure that enhances development, but we’re appealing that for such national telecommunications infrastructure, government should find a way of being sensitive to that reality, and divert the road away from this critical national infrastructure.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have our proposal here and we have the old alignment, the gazetted alignment.
“To the glory of God, to solve MTN, 2Africa and Okun Ajah community (complaints), we are diverting completely from the new alignment and we are rejoining back to our new alignment at kilometer 25. Congratulations.”
Umahi also announced that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would not be available for now, citing Section 15 (b) of the Freedom of Information Act to support the government’s decision to withhold certain information from the press and public.
The Section Umahi cited is the exception of third-party information, which allows government institutions to deny journalists or the public access to information.
