President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on Nigerians to exercise patience with his administration, assuring that positive change is underway despite the current economic challenges.
Speaking on Saturday during the inauguration of Phase 1, Section 1 of the Lagos Calabar Coastal Highway, a 30 kilometre segment of the 750 km project, Tinubu acknowledged the hardships citizens are facing but assured that better days lie ahead.
“I know at this stage, your expectation is still very high and our people are still experiencing hardship,” he said. “I take this opportunity to appeal to all Nigerians that the hope is here and it is realisable.”
The President highlighted improvements in the economy, including a drop in inflation, efforts to clean up the foreign exchange system, and the near-total elimination of corruption related to fuel subsidies.
“You would be proud of the benefits; there is light at the end of the tunnel. Inflation is coming down, the corruption in the exchange rate is eliminated, the corruption in fuel subsidy is limited to the barest minimum.
“It is all for you, the people. We are reducing the cost of manufacturing and encouraging local production. We give all incentives for everyone to abide by the principle. May God bless our country; may God bless Lagos State and keep our fighting soldiers safe.”
Tinubu also issued a stern warning to developers, emphasizing that any development on federal land without proper approval would not be compensated.
“Let me at this stage warn all developers: the Federal Government reinforced the setbacks for the interest of our nation. Development without approval will not be compensated. We have gazetted and published the setbacks; we are going to enforce it rigidly in every way possible,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Minister of Works David Umahi explained that the highway is designed as a six-lane carriageway with a total corridor width of 60 meters.
He also addressed concerns about the Landmark property, clarifying that only the encroachment on the shoreline was affected.
“Mr President, I want to state that we did no harm to the Landmark property. It is by your order that we should save as much infrastructure as possible even though they violated the gazetted route,” Umahi explained.
“The Landmark infrastructure is intact. What went off was their encroachment on our front shoreline, and the Supreme Court ruled that 250 metres from the shoreline belong to the Federal Government, and so we didn’t do that,” he added.
Umahi further disclosed that President Tinubu had instructed governors in states with major federal road projects to reserve at least 500 meters from the edge of the carriageway, which would support future tolling arrangements.
In a humanitarian move, Tinubu directed that compensation be paid even for illegal structures along the route something not mandated by law.
According to Umahi, N18 billion has already been disbursed in compensation for the first phase of the highway.
