Owner of demolished beach declares support for Lagos-Calabar coastal road

Millions of people would profit from the project, according to Bolaji Ariyo, the chief executive officer of Mami Chula Beach and one of the impacted property owners in the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road construction.

Last week, David Umahi, the Minister of Works, said that the Federal Government would compensate property owners impacted by the demolition required for the building of channel 0 to channel 3 with N2.75 billion.

At a stakeholders conference in Lagos State, he disclosed this information, urging all parties to desist from politicising the project and identifying Ariyo, a Yoruba guy, as the biggest affected property owner.

In a widely shared video interview, Ariyo expressed his support for the project's goals "even if it causes inconvenience for a small number of people" with Channels TV.
"I understand when a government promises to make life easier for all Nigerians," he remarked.

"Undoubtedly, a portion of us are impacted, but the impacted individuals make up less than 0.1 percent of the millions of people who will benefit from the coastal roads."

In order for the idea to succeed, he also pleaded with the populace to support the president and the minister.
In order to ensure that this route is built, Ariyo continued, "people like me have taken it to heart to also support Mr. President and the Honourable Minister."
The minister told reporters on Saturday that only shanties built on the government's right-of-way were destroyed, noting that no Landmark beach resort buildings were destroyed.

Sadly, Landmark has raised a lot of awareness about this. After going back, I can confirm that his infrastructure is unaffected.

Only the shantytowns are impacted, and they have already been razed. We are travelling over our coastline bridge within the federal government's right-of-way.

"I have given the order that the beach be closed tomorrow and that there not be a beach. There is no longer any beach at the end of the day since the property is held by persons who are sand filling it.

"Those who want to use it for political gain are free to continue. It's just my job to cross the coastal road. It is located in the federal government's legally recognised right-of-way, which is the coastal corridor.

A recent protest against the beach's sand filling for road building was organised by Landmark employees.

In response to the exercise, Landmark Africa, the parent business of the beach, posted on X with the caption, "What we built in six years was destroyed in six hours," presumably referring to their $200 million investment that was reduced to rubble. But they said they would return.