A group, Coalition for Land Rights Advocacy in Nigeria (CLARAN), has raised concern over the perceived injustice on the people for the Lagos-Calabar highway project.
Blueprint Weekend gathered that the Coalition through a zoom press conference titled: “The Legal, Social, and Economic Impact of the Compensation for Injustice for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project Affected Persons held in Lagos Thursday, shed light on the “injustice facing the Project Affected Persons (PAPs) across the federation.”
The Coalition stated that the project “has forcibly displaced numerous Nigerians, robbing them of their lands, homes, and livelihoods without compliance with the payment of just, fair, reasonable and adequate compensation as enshrined by the laws of Nigeria.”
It noted that, “Despite exhaustive attempts to address these issues of injustices, the government, through its agents, has shown a pattern of coercion and disregard for constitutional and legal rights.
“In the last eight months, over 65 correspondences have been sent by professional representatives of the PAPs to the Honourable Minister of Works, David Umahi, where each highlighting the inadequacies and injustices within the current compensation framework.
“With these numerous communications, the Minister has refused to provide a single response, not even from the Legal directorate of the Ministry. Instead, he continued to organise politically tainted stakeholder meetings where PAPs are subjected to bullying, shaming, and harassment by the Minister’s agents and security personnel.”
The group stated further that the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project “must not stand as a symbol of broken laws and betrayed citizens.”
It, however, stated that in their quest for justice, the PAPs “have formally petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, through their lawful attorney, assigned this case to the House Committee on Public Petitions, which has since issued two summonses and held two hearings.”
