By Hosea Parah
The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) Youth Wing, on Tuesday, rejected the planned diversion of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, insisting that the Federal Government restores the original alignment of the 750km road project.
The group warned that failure on part of the government will have political consequences for the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 general elections.
The National Youths Leader of PANDEF, Hon DonBen Donyegha, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, the Edo State capital, said the group is demanding for immediate cancellation of the directive to divert the highway onto the East-West road, adding that, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway was conceived and sold as a transformative coastal artery linking Lagos through the littoral states and communities of the Niger Delta to Calabar.
He decried alleged neglect of the region by successive administrations, maintaining that no excuse should be given to abandon the coastal communities that bear the heaviest burden of oil extraction and environmental pollution.
”The National Youth Wing of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) strongly condemns the Federal Government’s decision, as announced by the Minister of
Works, Engr Dave Umahi, to redesign and divert the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway away from its original coastal alignment and link it instead to the existing East-West Highway via Ondo State into Edo State.
According to him, “This is not an engineering tweak. It is a fundamental betrayal of the project’s purpose and of the littoral oil-bearing communities whose lands generate the overwhelming bulk of Nigeria’s wealth. Minister Umahi publicly quoted President Bola Tinubu as directing: ‘Divert, do not do any new alignments. Pass the coastal highway through the existing East-West road’,” he stated.
Adding that, He further justified the change by citing difficult terrain, deep pits, and cost in sections covering parts of Ogun and Ondo States. Later clarifications that the 750kmn project is “not abandoned” and that surveys continue elsewhere do not erase the clear directive or the practical effect: large stretches of the original coastal corridor and the communities that sit on it are being cut off.
He noticed that, “The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway was conceived and sold as a transformative coastal artery linking Lagos through the littoral states and communities of the Niger Delta to Calabar. These are the same riverine and coastal communities that have hosted oil production for decades, endured pollution, gas flaring, and underdevelopment, and continue to supply the resources that keep the Nigerian economy afloat.”
Donyegha, maintained that rerouting the road project to the East-West road to avoid the coast is the opposite of what was promised by the Tinubu administration.
”Rerouting the project inland via the chronically failed East-West Road to avoid the coast is the opposite of what was promised and what justice requires. Engineering challenges and costs are real in the Niger Delta; they have always been. That should never be an excuse to abandon the coastal communities that bear the heaviest burden of oil extraction and environmental pollution,” Donyegha said.
The group demanded among others, “transparent, documented engagement with host communities, state governments, affected sections and regional stakeholders before any further major realignment decisions is taken.
”Public confirmation that every littoral oil-bearing community originally intended to be served by the highway will still be served by a proper coastal route, not left to an upgraded inland road that has failed them for years. The East-West Road has been a symbol of neglect and broken promises for decades.
”Failure to reverse this course risks avoidable youth and community reactions across the Niger Delta. Such reactions would undermine the hard-won peace and security in the region and would have clear political consequences for the administration’s electoral prospects in the 2027 (general) elections,” he concluded.