Coastal Road: Lagos residents kick against extension of Right of Way

Property owners and residents of Okun Ajah community are protesting against what they described as deviation from the established Lagos – Calabar Coastal Road Right of Way

The affected property owners and residents are appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo Olu and the Lagos State House of Assembly to investigate the recent marking of buildings and other places for demolition by officials of the state government.

Hundreds of the residents during a peaceful protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly and other places accused officials of the Lagos State Physical and Urban Planning Agency of extending the Right of Way of the proposed road  beyond the established  delineation .

The demonstrators stressed that the Coastal Road project, initiated in 2006, had its Right-of-Way distinctly defined and gazetted  and that  the community had respected the coastal road alignment, ensuring no development encroached upon the coastal road boundary.

According to them, those who flouted the right-of-way and built on it, creating obstructions, should face consequences to act as a deterrence to others.

Many of the affected property  owners proactively secured Certificate of Occupancy and a survey plan, which were reportedly signed  by the then Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and the then Surveyor General of Lagos State.

The protesters claimed that the survey delineated the sanctioned and gazetted coastal road alignment along the coastline and that they adhered strictly to the delineations .

One of the protesters, who simply identified himself as Fasisi said “to our surprise, we discovered that the  officials from the Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development Agency were marking properties for demolition, even those outside the gazetted coastal road alignment.”

The resident pointed out that the markings followed the original alignment from Ahmadu Bello Way, but began to deviate upon reaching the Okun-Ajah community.