Follow Us on Google
By Christopher Oji
These are trying times for foreign nationals and some Nigerians in the diaspora who invested in housing projects in Okun-Ajah, Lagos State, as their investments have been affected by the diversion of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Works.
The prospective homeowners, who arrived Nigeria penultimate Sunday, have cried for President Bola Tinubu’s quick intervention as they claimed they were going through financial, psychological and mental trauma over the news of the diversion of the road to pass through their investments worth billions of naira.
The investors expressed regrets that they established businesses and built homes in Nigeria, all of which are now under threat due to the alteration of the route for the coastal highway.
At a press briefing last week on Lagos Island, the diasporans said the action of Tinubu concerning the illegal diversion to their land would determine their fate and that of other people in the diaspora.
The investors, comprising six foreign nationals, including Americans, Chinese, Canadians and Britons, as well as Nigerians, said the president’s action would make them believe once again in Nigeria or, conversely, lose hope completely, as they came to invest in the country after heeding the call by Tinubu, who during and after his presidential election campaign wooed them with his ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda to invest in Nigeria.
Most of them said they were sceptical at first in accepting the call to invest in Nigeria, but took the resident’s advice when some responsible Nigerians, with WinHomes Property Development Company, came to convince them and emphasised that the President meant well.
One of them told our correspondent: “When we were told about the parcels of land, that we were affected by the new diversion of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road in Okun-Ajah, we were not bothered because we had the necessary documents and when we examined the initial plans of the coastal road, we realised that it was not possible to divert the road to our investment. We thought it was a rumour because there was no reason whatsoever to leave the original plan and divert to our land.
“We did a thorough investigation and discovered that the land was genuine, with documents, including the governor’s consent. We had no reason to fear because the original plan of the road was done when Tinubu was the governor of the state and he is now the President. So, we have come from all parts of the country to meet with the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi, and to let Nigerians know what we are passing through, and for our President to come to our rescue.”
An African-American medical practitioner, Kimberly Stark, could not control her emotions as she expressed concerns that her investments might go down the drain, if urgent steps were not taken to address the matter.
Stark said she had to take a flight to Nigeria after reading news of the destruction of structures on her parcels of land, which she bought through Winhomes Global Services Estate, on different media platforms.
She said: “This is my 18th time in Nigeria. When I got the information of Winhomes Global Services investment scheme and the coastal road that would come in the future, I was very excited and decided to invest in Nigeria and make it my second home.
“To my amazement, we heard of all that has been happening and how our estate investment has been demolished because of the diversion of the coastal road from its original gazetted plan.
“I have reasons to suspect that some key people working with the minister of works are giving him improper information. It is not a good image for the country as a whole. We appeal to the President to intervene because the situation is tearing me up.
“How would I invest in my country and convince my friends to invest and after investment we are left in penury? This is my country. The President should intervene urgently.”
She was not alone in the lamentations that have trailed the demolitions. Other Nigerians in the diaspora who also flew into the country from their respective stations said the planned diversion was contrary to the original 2006 plan.
Arinze Oneumelu, popularly known as Dr. Zo, a professor of medicine in Canada, said the diversion has further discouraged Nigerians in the diaspora from coming home: “I have been abroad for 23 years. I have come to a stage in my life where I want to be home. A lot of us want to come home and invest here.
“Nigeria is my home. I don’t have any other home in the world. But Nigeria has to be ready for diasporan Nigerians’ homecoming and this is the time to prove it.”
Earlier, managing director, Winhomes Global Services Limited, Mrs. Stella Okengwu, an engineer, disclosed that, on two occasions in public stakeholders’ meetings held at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, in April and May 2024, Umahi said he would revert to the 2006 original gazetted Lagos-Calabar coastal road alignment at Okun-Ajah.
However, she asked: “How come he, suddenly in June 2024, diverted to a new alignment? We place it on record in the interest of justice, fairness and equity that you cannot approbate and at the same time reprobate.”
Okengwu explained that the press conference became imperative to lay bare what she described as illegal coastal road realignment, and to set the records straight with facts and figures surrounding the coastal road realignment viz the illegal diversion and demolition of Winhomes Estate, owned by Nigerians in the diaspora.
She said: “To begin with, the Lagos-Calabar coastal road is regulated originally by the 2006 gazette, which was meant to be along Lekki-Epe express road but the minister of works affirmed that he is changing the coastal road alignment because he wants to avoid the shoreline where both MTN and 2 Africa’s cables are situated. But, unfortunately, these cables are not located within 16-18 corridor (Okun-Ajah); rather, they are located at Okun-Mopo, which is seven kilometres away from Okun-Ajah, where my company, Winhomes Global Service Estate, is situated.
Other News
“Winhomes Global Services Limited has a vast property that has all relevant documents, ranging from certificate of occupancy, Governor’s Consent, and Coastal Road Right of Way Clearance, among other legal papers, and we have been enjoying a good developmental relationship with the Okun-Ajah community where my company is.
“In fact, the coastal road was the main attraction for Nigerians in the diaspora because of the estate’s proximity to the proposed coastal road and its attendant benefits. The initiative to create Winhomes as an investment portal for diaspora investment was to repatriate over $250 million in foreign direct investment and create jobs for over 5,000 young Nigerians.”
She said the property was more than 700 metres away from the shoreline, which made it legal.
Okengwu further disproved the ministry of works’ allegations that her company’s documents, including the certificate of occupancy, were fake, describing the claim as not only untrue but misleading, inciting and defamatory.
“These statements could lead to a breach of peace and tarnish the reputation of the Lagos State Government. I possess all relevant documents, which validate my company’s ownership and development of the property,” she maintained, calling for a public retraction of the statements.
She also debunked claims that the coastal road alignment was being changed to avoid the shoreline because of telecom cables. The cables, according to Okengwu, were located seven kilometres away in Okun-Mopo.
“I appeal to President Bola Tinubu to mandate the ministry of works to revert to the original 2006 gazetted alignment for the Lagos-Calabar coastal road project, as there are no cable hubs in the area, except for illegal encroachers. As Nigerians in the diaspora, we support the government when they follow due process,” she added.
Dr. Zo said: “I tell you from the heart, in my life, 53 years, I’ve been aboard for 23 years. I make a lot of noise about my period because Nigeria needs me, believe me. My kids are in the university, I’ve been abroad for too long. I’m a professor of management in Canada. A lot of us want to come home, we want to invest here, we want to make things happen. But Nigeria has to be ready for us.
“I believe that this lady would have done her due diligence to look into all the records, to look into everything that needs to be done, to know that this project was right.
“A lot of us don’t want to be here. We have a lot of suspicion, we have a lot of distrust in Nigerians, maybe right, maybe wrong. If I was a President today, I’ll do is to connect Nigeria’s diaspora to Nigeria. We are brilliant, we are all over the world.”
Another stakeholder, Femi Adekoya, an engineer and partner in WinHomes Estate, said the action of the ministry of works has undermined the importance of the environmental impact and social assessment of the diverted alignment of chainage 17-18 of the axis away from the original alignment of 2006. In view of the technical aspect of the EIA and ESA, the engineering aspect of the EIE was not properly conducted, thereby resulting in inadequate environmental impact assessment.
“The sudden diversion of the rural environment around Okun-Ajah grossly violates engineering ethics and fails to address shoreline erosion and to protect the community members who will face the impact of the erosion caused by the diversion.
“The elevation of the road in this diverted area of Okun- Ajah is now higher than the area elevation, thereby plunging this community into flooding of the entire landscape. We talked about the environmental degradation without a thorough assessment and mitigation plan for the diversion.
“The irreversible damage it will cause to the critical habitat ecosystem and community which should be avoided by taking the path of the original gazette alignment of 2006.
“To put record straight about the reason for diversion by the minister of works about the marine cable passing through Okun-Ajah.
The MTM cable passes through Okun- Mapo and not Okun-Ajah as it was said by the minister of works.”
He added that, ‘’It is imperative that the minister of works should revert back to the original alignment of 2006 and get an approved environmental impact assessment. I strongly believe that the Ministry of works, and representatives in Lagos State, are not reporting the factual assessment and report of the entire affected area to the honourable minister of works.
Another person who expressed anger over the development was Labake Adetunji, a legal practitioner, who said, “I am here on the mandate of the president of the Real Estate Developers’ Association. We are very concerned and we align with all the observations, and we ourselves, a lot of our developers on that road, are also affected. And of a truth, we support the government, The coastal road is not a bad thing; it will bring a lot of development.”
But he said, the diversion and subsequent demolition was soiling Nigeria’s image, “And it’s still not giving the developers a good name, as well as Nigeria, and like the last speaker said, this new dispensation should actually become a link between Nigerians in diaspora and Nigeria itself.
“I believe that, like he said, Nigeria will be a better place if diasporans are allowed and given a good platform, to come back home, because the majority of Nigerians in diaspora truly really want to come home.
“So we appeal, on behalf of the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Nigeria, to the federal government, to His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and to everyone that is really involved to make Nigeria an enabling environment for everyone to come home and invest.”
