Lamentations as Landmark Beach Demolition Leave Micro-businesses in Ruin

Even though the contention over the demolition of the popular Landmark Beach to accommodate the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, might have died down, Sunday Ehigiator writes that perhaps the worst hit were about 80 businesses, mostly micro ones and jobs, providing about 4,000 direct jobs. Some of the affected small businesses, while lamenting the devastating impact on their source of livelihood, worry over their future as the major income source is gone

It all began sometime in April 2024, when the CEO of Landmark Group, Paul Onwuanibe, received an unexpected letter from the Lagos State government.

The letter delivered a shocking seven-day eviction notice and demolition warning for the $200 million Landmark Beach Resort, citing its location in the path of the nine-state coastal highway connecting Lagos and Calabar. The sudden notice threw Landmark Group and the numerous businesses at the beach into turmoil, as it came without warning.

For better context, over 80 businesses providing 4,000 direct jobs were left uncertain about their future, as many rely heavily on the beach location for their operations.

The constant fear of sudden displacement began to loom, as buildings were marked for demolition with “RIGHT OF WAY” graffiti on them. Since then, the once-thriving beach became anxious, with sober faces and palpable tension replacing its welcoming atmosphere.

To gather every possible support to save the looming demolition of the beach, A giant “#SAVE LANDMARK BEACH” banner was erected on the sand, pleading with tourists to join the cause and urge the government to spare their livelihoods. Unfortunately, this all fell on deaf ears.

In a swift and poignant six-hour demolition exercise on April 29, 2024, portions of the beloved resort, painstakingly built over six years by Paul Onwuanibe, were reduced to rubble.

The destruction left Onwuanibe heartbroken and impacted thousands of families and over 50 small and micro businesses that relied on the beach for their livelihood. The once-thriving resort, a hub of activity and beauty, was silenced, leaving behind a trail of devastation and uncertainty.

Following the demolition, a post on X from Landmark Africa, the parent company of the beach, in reaction to the exercise, read, “What we built in six years was destroyed in six hours”, alluding to their investment believed to be around $200m that has been turned to ruins.

After the demolition, a visibly worried Onwuanibe, revealed in a press interview that about 70 per cent of the beach was destroyed by the government bulldozer, describing the action as “insensitive.”

According to him, “What is left of these businesses are the rubbles you can see (in video clips he captured while the demolition was going on). Those are people’s investments and means of livelihood reduced to mere rubbles; so many jobs have been lost and many Nigerian families are in for it,” Onwuanibe said.

FG’s Justification

Justifying the Federal Government’s action, The Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi stated that Landmark Africa has no claim to the 250-metre shoreline, which is part of the Right-of-Way for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway being built by the Federal Government.

He stated this during the demolition of properties at the beachfront of the Landmark Resort, where he accused the owners of the properties of playing politics and pandering to public sentiments.

Sen. Umahi stated that the Federal Government made efforts to spare the properties of the company, noting that the core of the facility was spared.

According to him, “No claim for Landmark, He has no claim. We spared his entire infrastructure; we don’t pay for shanties. The shanties are on our Right-of-Way which is 250 meters from the shoreline. So, he has no claim.

“We made all the efforts to spare his entire infrastructure and that is why I say he is a politician while I’m an engineer. I don’t know the attention he is seeking.”

Impact on Surrounding Small-scale Businesses

Weeks after the demolition of Landmark Beach Resort, THISDAY embarked on a fact-finding mission to assess the impact on small businesses within the Landmark ecosystem.

Our investigation aimed to gauge the resilience and adaptability of these petty enterprises as they navigate the challenges arising from the sudden loss of their operating environment.

Speaking to a petty trader opposite Landmark, Mr Haadu Hassan, he said: “It affected us because the majority, if not all, of our customers are visitors to Landmark. They are the ones that used to buy our product and everything but now a majority of Landmark customers are gone. So we are just managing ourselves with little patronage. Before, I used to sell like eight to 12 cartons of biscuits a day, alongside other products. But with the incident, I struggle to sell two cartoons per day.”

A food vendor, Mrs Cecelia Ogar lamented, “I sell Eba, Fufu and Rice just outside the Landmark. Before I used to cook and sell about 2 paints of rice and beans respectively daily. But now, I cook and sell only one device for rice and half the paint of beans.”

A former receptionist at Landmark Beach & Resort, Mr. Mobolaji Saheed, said he now charges phones for people and sells recharge cards by the side. He said: “ Formerly, I worked as a receptionist at the Landmark Beach and Resort, till the demolition happened which eventually led to me losing my job. To be candid, it hasn’t been fair and easy at all. I prefer working at Landmark to staying here. This is my business. I stay here by myself. Life has not been easy. Although having the freedom to be your business manager is fine before you get things gathered up, you would go through a lot.”

Another food vendor, Abasiama Utomi said the demolition affected her business so much, adding that “I am not happy with what happened to Landmark because my business so much depended on people patronising Landmark. I don’t cook like I normally do before again. Before I cooked one paint of rice and some swallow but now I manage to cook a derica because there is no more patronage. In no time, I will be shutting down this business and returning to my village because there is nothing again for me here”.

Ms. Aisha Adeyanju, another food vendor said: “This business belongs to my mother, but I help her to run it. The Landmark incident has affected it so badly. Before we used to cook two paint rubbers of beans but now, we cook just one.”

Corroborating, a drink vendor, Mrs Biola Balogun added, “I sell drinks and food opposite Landmark. The demolition affected all of us; before now, when they had events on Saturdays and Sundays, traders were usually very happy. Now, there is nothing like that. Formerly, I could move my wares towards the roadside from my shop here because sales move faster by the roadside but now there is nothing like that. All these have made us know that the beach is no longer here.

“Now, only the rich are enjoying it. The poor have been left behind. May God help us. If for instance, we were making sales of N30,000, it’s now N15,000. On weekends, we make a lot of sales with the beach here but like this past Saturday, I went to sleep. When the beach was still here and functioning, on some Sundays, you wouldn’t want to go home. Some of us just stay here for the weekend especially when there are shows because we know we would make sales but there is nothing like that anymore. Last weekend, I went to sleep, because there was no market.”

Qudus Alade, an automobile mechanic said demolition affected him  because some people who came to Landmark also brought their cars. I had a lot of customers that I got to know through Landmark. Like this car that I am working on, the owner wants to use it to be a dropping boat, but because of the incident, the owner has not returned for it, because the business he wanted to be using it for is now gone.

“Since the incident, my business has been slow. At weekends, people that their car got faulty while attending events at Landmark would call on me to help fix it, but that has stopped. Before, I could work on 10 to 15 cars in a week, but now we manage to see four customers in a week. The difference is clear.”

A vulcaniser, Mr. Idowu Alex-John said: “This Landmark incident affected everyone outside here. You know, we depend on Landmark customers to survive.  Their customers come here to fix their bad tyres, and that is what my business survives on. But as they have scattered Landmark, everything has reduced. We don’t get patronage as we used to anymore.

A POS operator, Ms. Peace Christopher said: “I am a POS Operator. They demolished where I work inside Landmark, Watercraft. The POS is not my own business. I am helping somebody. I don’t have a job for now. When I was working there, there was a whole lot of difference because I was more comfortable there than here. Most of my former colleagues are still jobless. I am jobless too. I’m not being paid here as I work for my brother.”

The Trailing Controversies, Reversal to Original Alignment 

The over 700-kilometre Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has generated heated debates over its cost, possibility of completion, and the destruction of properties and businesses along its Right-of-Way.

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has described it as a white elephant project and called on the Federal Government to use the funds to repair abandoned projects littered across the country.

Also, former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, has described the project as fraudulent considering the cost and funding model.

Some critics have also alleged that the project has an unpopular ethnic dimension, suggesting that it was initiated to target Paul Onwuanibe, CEO of Landmark Group, due to his perceived political leanings.

Recent comments by Senator Umahi suggesting that the government has reverted to the original gazetted plan for the road have also sparked speculation that the project’s initiation may have indeed been motivated by political retribution.

At a meeting between the government and community stakeholders on Thursday, May 23, the Minister for Works, Sen. Umahi, said the government had decided to revert to the old gazetted plan for the road in favour of historic homes and submarine cables.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have our proposal here and we have the old alignment, the gazetted alignment,” Umahi said. To the glory of God, to solve MTN, 2Africa and Okun Ajah community (complaints), we are diverting completely from the new alignment and we are rejoining back to our new alignment at kilometre 25.”

To put things into perspective, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is currently financing the 47-kilometre pilot phase of the ambitious 700-kilometre coastal road project, which will span across nine coastal states.

However, the project has already sparked widespread concern, resulting in the loss of lives and displacement of numerous individuals.

While the recent announcement has brought respite to some affected parties, particularly the residents of the Okun Ajah community, many Nigerians remain baffled as to whether the demolition of multiple structures, including a portion of the beachfront at Landmark Beach, was indeed necessary in the first place and whether it remains relevant to the road project.

According to the minister’s statement, the reversion to the old alignment will only impact a specific section of the project, spanning from kilometres 16 to 25 of the currently funded 47-kilometre stretch.

This means that the initial 15 kilometres, which include the location of Landmark Resort, will proceed according to the new alignment. When construction reaches kilometres 16 to 25, where sensitive undersea cables and ancestral lands are situated, the road will be rerouted to follow the original alignment.

This adjustment will result in the government utilizing 9 kilometres of the old design and 38 kilometres of the new design for the first 47 kilometres of the coastal highway.

Notably, this reversion does not retroactively render the demolition of Landmark Resort unnecessary.

Additionally, THISDAY understands that the Okun Ajah community has a long-standing tradition of burying their revered traditional leaders, known as Olumegbon, in the area. Had the new plans not been revised, there was a high likelihood that the remains of past Olumegbon and other historically significant sites would have been disturbed, unsettling the resting places of the deceased.

As it currently stands, numerous communities will still face the loss of their properties and livelihoods as the construction progresses. Already, tens of properties have been demolished in communities such as Magbon, Iberekodo, and Eleko, among others, leaving property owners uncertain about when they will receive compensation and how much they will receive. This uncertainty only adds to the distress and disruption caused by the project.

FG Pays N2.75bn in Compensation 

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, disclosed that the Federal Government on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, paid N2.75 billion in compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway spanning from channel 0 to channel 3.

According to him, “To show sympathy for people who voted for Mr President, we would do everything possible to pay the human face compensation. Today, we are paying over N2bn in compensation just from channel 0 to channel 3.

Umahi noted that the compensation being done was a flag-off for 10 people, directing that the rest of those to be compensated should go to the Secretariat of the Compensation Committee for payment.

He added, “All tenCoastalants within the Landmark premises, today, have all been shortlisted and they will get the alerts by 2:00 pm. Most of them are here and that closes the politics of Landmark.”

The first phase of the compensation flag-off included 10 property owners, which were: Olaotan Olamuyiwa of Checkmate; Kemi Osinibi of Landmark Kids Club by Maxtivity; Mide Adegbite, Peter Oladipupo of FX Lounge; Bukola Oloko, Abiodun Oguntunde of Xchange Lagos; Dapo Oniru of Moist Beach; Mustapha Olatunji of G12 Beach; Dr Bashir Oshodi, and Bestrock.

The Federal Controller of Works for Lagos State, Olukorede Kesha, noted that the aforementioned property owners were the first 10 to be compensated, adding that subsequently, other compensations would ensue.

However, the management of Landmark Beach said it is seeking compensation from the Federal Government over the demolition of its properties estimated at N42 billion.

In a statement signed by the management of Landmark Group, the company noted that the demolished properties included supporting buildings and infrastructure to the Landmark ecosystem.

The statement also disclosed that the demolition resulted in the loss of nearly half of the company’s revenue.

It also highlighted that they are actively pursuing appropriate compensation from the Federal Government. This marks the first time the resort centre has quantified the financial sum of its demolished properties in a public statement since its demolition in April.

“We are currently picking up the pieces following the demolition of almost N42 billion worth of supporting infrastructure and buildings, and the loss of nearly half our Company revenue.

“We are focused on working with the Government to receive adequate compensation required to jumpstart the rest of the once thriving Landmark part of the Landmark Ecosystem and a new family-centric beach in a different waterfront location.

“This will help to preserve the sustenance of the thousands of families whose livelihoods have been threatened by the demolition as well as recreate a platform for many of the small and micro businesses that were incubated on the Landmark Beach and adjoining beach resorts that were recently demolished,” the statement read in part.