The Coalition for Land Rights Advocacy in Nigeria has announced its intention to sue the Federal Government over what it describes as inadequate and unjust compensation for individuals affected by road construction projects.
Coalition Head, Sola Enitan, disclosed this during an exclusive interview, emphasizing that if the Minister of Works, David Umahi, fails to meet their demands, legal action will follow.
Enitan explained that while the coalition has held off on court proceedings, it intends to exhaust legislative processes first. “We have issued three summonses and are awaiting the House of Assembly’s intervention. If the minister remains unresponsive, we will proceed to court unless President Bola Tinubu intervenes to ensure that fair compensation is paid,” he stated.
The coalition alleges that the ongoing road projects, claimed to be in the public interest, have forcefully displaced many Nigerians from their lands and homes without adequate compensation, as mandated by law.
According to Enitan, over 65 official correspondences have been sent to the Ministry of Works highlighting these injustices, but there has been no response.
Enitan further accused the Ministry of holding politically biased stakeholder meetings where affected individuals face intimidation. “These meetings often devolve into sessions where Project-Affected Persons (PAPs) are bullied and harassed by the minister, his agents, and security personnel. Videos of these incidents have circulated widely on social media,” he noted.
Referencing Sections 29 and 30 of the Land Use Act of 1978, Enitan highlighted the failure of the Minister to engage the Land Use and Allocations Committee, which is mandated to resolve compensation disputes. Instead, the minister allegedly continues to sidestep these statutory obligations, forcing affected citizens to accept unfair settlements.
The coalition has also petitioned the Speaker of the House of Representatives, resulting in multiple summonses issued by the House Committee on Public Petitions. Despite this, the Minister has reportedly refused to appear before the committee, ignoring the plight of those displaced by the project.
The controversy stems from the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, where the government recently raised the compensation budget for Section 1 from ₦8 billion to ₦18 billion. However, PAPs have rejected this amount, arguing that it falls short of the true value of their properties and fails to account for the loss of livelihoods.
The coalition is calling on President Tinubu to intervene to prevent further legal escalation and ensure that the rights of affected citizens are upheld.
