FG Sets Up Compensation C’ttee for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

 The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has constituted a committee  to review the report on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment in respect  of compensation for section 1 of the Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway project.

Stressing that it was in keeping with the established rules on compensation and the ideals of transparency, a statement by Umahi’s spokesman, Uchenna Orji, said the committee  is made up of 19 members.

The committee is required to interface with stakeholders  and property owners that will  be affected by  the project with a view to recommending  those who are entitled to receive compensation from federal government  as required  by law.

The minister  directed  that the committee should  work strictly  within the terms of reference, which is to verify  and authenticate the list of those to be compensated and submit a report within 10 days effective  April 18, 2024.

He said: “We are setting up a review committee to look at the work done by the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA,) and the works to be reviewed by this committee is very simple.

“It’s just to interact with the property owners that are going to be affected, and then in their presence, in the presence of the committee and the ESIA Consultant and the contractor, look at the compensation as enumerated to be paid, and where possible, you visit the site.

“ We are using the federal rates to do our enumeration. I know very well that there is nobody that is ever enumerated that is ever satisfied with how much  is to be paid, but we are bound by the law, and so we are using federal rates,” Umahi said.

He  promised to ensure a seamless  and  timely  payment  of compensation on the Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway  project, but warned that only those  legally  entitled  to compensation  would  be shortlisted.

He said: “The moment the property owner signs, and then we have a form that we give to them to fill, and indicate the bank account; the moment that is done, within 72 hours, we authorise payment.

“The contractor is going to be paying directly to all those who are affected, and this we are committed to doing. This verification will  start Wednesday in Lagos, and of course, we have to make it very clear that 250 meters legally belongs to the federal government.

“ So if you have a title within these 250 meters and it’s not a title from federal government, then it is in encumbrance, and only Mr. President can give a waiver if he feels so for the person to be paid,” the minister added.

The meeting  which was held via zoom  in the minister’s conference  hall Mabushi-Abuja with the affected property  owners and other stakeholders, was in furtherance  of the resolutions earlier  reached in the stakeholders engagement  in Lagos on  April 11, 2024 .