Felix Omoh-Asun in Benin City
Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) National Youth Wing has demanded the instant cancellation of the reported reroute of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and reverse to its unique alignment.
The National Youth Wing made the demand in Benin City, Edo State on Tuesday, whereas strongly condemning the reroute.
The National Youth Leader, PANDEF National Youth Wing, DonBen Donyegha, in a press convention, described the Federal Government’s determination, as introduced by the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, to revamp and divert the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway away from its unique coastal alignment and hyperlink it as an alternative to the prevailing East-West Highway by way of Ondo into Edo State, as a betrayal and provocative.
“This is not an engineering tweak. It is a fundamental betrayal of the project’s purpose and of the littoral oil-bearing communities whose lands generate the overwhelming bulk of Nigeria’s wealth,” he stated.
Umahi had additional justified the change by citing tough terrain, deep pits, and value in sections protecting elements of Ogun and Ondo States.
Umahi later clarified that the 750km undertaking is “not abandoned” and that surveys proceed elsewhere don’t erase the clear directive or the sensible impact: giant stretches of the unique coastal hall and the communities that sit on it are being minimize off.
The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway was conceived and offered as a transformative coastal artery linking Lagos by way of the littoral states and communities of the Niger Delta to Calabar.
PANDEF stated the communities, that are denied the freeway, are those internet hosting oil manufacturing for many years, endured air pollution, gasoline flaring, and underdevelopment, and proceed to produce the assets that preserve the Nigerian financial system afloat.
“Rerouting the project inland via the chronically failed East-West Road to avoid the coast is the opposite of what was promised and what justice requires,” the group stated.
According to PANDEF, “Engineering challenges and prices are actual within the Niger Delta; they’ve at all times been. That ought to NEVER be an excuse to desert the coastal communities that bear the heaviest burden of oil extraction and environmental air pollution. Previous administrations uncared for the area’s connectivity. So this administration’s determination to proceed with a coastal freeway was extensively welcomed within the Niger Delta exactly as a result of it was anticipated to lastly serve the littoral states and communities. Diverting it now re-opens the outdated wound of exclusion.
“This sample of making the area that the golden eggs its personal is all too acquainted. Recall how President Tinubu delayed assent to the South-South Development Commission (SSDC) Bill lengthy after the National Assembly handed it and after he had promptly signed comparable payments establishing growth commissions for different geopolitical zones. The unstated suggestion was that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) may merely take in that function.
“The delay triggered sustained, huge stress and protests from throughout the South-south till the SSDC was lastly created and assented in March 2025. PANDEF and different regional voices had been compelled to remind the Presidency that withholding a devoted fee for the zone that produces the majority of the nation’s oil wealth risked emotions of exclusion and threatened the peace the nation depends on for its income.
“The region should not have to mount repeated agitations simply to receive institutions and infrastructure that other zones are granted as a matter of course. Mr President is advised not to fall prey to latent forces in his administration seeking to use this laudable project to settle a long held desire to oppress the littoral states. We shall resist it.”
PANDEF subsequently offered some calls for to the President Tinubu authorities to keep away from crises within the Niger Delta area.
The group is demanding the instant cancellation of the directive to divert the freeway onto the East-West Road by way of Ondo State and full reversion to the unique coastal alignment throughout all affected sections; clear, documented engagement with host communities, state governments, and regional stakeholders earlier than any additional main realignment choices; and public affirmation that each littoral oil-bearing group initially meant to be served by the freeway will nonetheless be served by a correct coastal route, not left to an upgraded inland highway that has failed them for years.
“The East-West Road has been a logo of neglect and damaged guarantees for many years. Upgrading parts of it’s welcome as a separate, complementary undertaking. It can’t be used in its place that successfully bypasses the coastal communities this signature undertaking was meant to open up.
“Failure to reverse this course dangers avoidable youth and group reactions throughout the Niger Delta. Such reactions would undermine the hard-won peace and safety within the area and would have clear political penalties for the administration’s clectoral prospects within the 2027 elections. The oil-bearing communities of the Niger Delta are watching. They is not going to settle for being written out of a undertaking constructed on the wealth extracted from their land, nor will they proceed to beg cap in hand for his or her rightful share.
“The National Youth wing of PANDEF calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene personally, reverse the diversion, and restore the original coastal vision of the Lagos-Calabar Highway. We stand ready for constructive dialogue, but we will not be silent while our communities are once again sidelined,” the group added
