The Federal Government has threatened to shut the Lagos section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway within two weeks if motorists fail to comply with safety measures and conditions along the route do not improve.
The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Olufemi Dare, issued the warning on Monday while addressing journalists during an inspection tour of the highway.
Dare said the decision followed a directive from the Minister of Works, David Umahi, amid persistent safety violations, vandalism and other illegal activities along the road.
“Within two weeks, if there’s no improvement on all these issues, then we have no option than to come back and shut down this road,” he said.
The controller said the government had the Lekki-Epe Expressway as an alternative, stressing that the coastal highway was still under construction and should not ordinarily have been opened to traffic before the completion of its bridges.
The Lagos section of the coastal highway comprises two sections spanning about 103 kilometres, with Section 1 covering approximately 47km and Section 2 extending about 56km.
Dare said there were 20 major bridges across the two sections in Lagos, with 10 in each section, several of which were still under construction.
He expressed concern over motorists driving at high speeds on a road where construction work was ongoing, despite the prescribed speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour.
“We have said your speed on the coastal road must not be more than 30 kilometres per hour,” Dare said, noting that some motorists had been driving at speeds of up to 120km per hour.
He said lives were being lost on the highway “almost every other day”, warning that the government could no longer allow the situation to continue.
Dare also warned articulated vehicle operators against parking along the highway, saying some truck and trailer drivers were using sections of the road as temporary parking spaces.
He said the government had reached an agreement with the Lagos State Police Command to increase police deployment along the highway following meetings between Umahi and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Tijani.
“Beginning from this morning, we’ve started to see the improvement in deployment of police. And we are going to have more,” he said.
The controller also warned against illegal U-turns along the highway, saying anyone arrested for the offence would be prosecuted.
He added that the use of commercial motorcycles, tricycles, hawking and animal grazing had been prohibited along the highway.
“We don’t want Okada motorcycles, tricycles. We don’t want them on the coastal road,” Dare said.
He also warned that authorities would remove people living in shanties and other illegal structures along the highway.
Vandalism
Dare identified the vandalism of safety infrastructure as another major challenge, saying sections of protective fencing and other installations were being removed at night.
He said at least five kilometres of ClearVu fencing had been removed, while about 18km of concrete covers had also been vandalised and taken away.
“They come in the night, they remove the ClearVu fence that was used to barricade the communities from the coastal highway,” he said.
Dare said the government was considering replacing the steel ClearVu fencing with concrete barriers in vulnerable areas because the existing fencing could be easily removed by vandals.
“We have to change the strategy. In areas where we have block work today, we do not have any problem with them,” he said.
He added that the government was also working on deploying CCTV cameras to improve surveillance along the route.
Coastal guards
Dare said the government had approved the recruitment of 40 members of a coastal guard for Section 1 of the highway, with four expected to be drawn from each community along the route.
According to him, the guards would work directly with the police and provide community-level surveillance, while additional personnel would be recruited for Section 2.
He said some previously engaged coastal guards had been attacked by vandals, making stronger police protection necessary.
Dare added that authorities were planning to reorganise and train the coastal guards under the direct supervision of the Lagos State Police Command.
