The Federal Government has threatened to shut the Lagos section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway within two weeks if motorists and other road users fail to comply with prescribed 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 during an inspection tour of the highway, citing persistent safety violations, speeding, vandalism, illegal activities and inadequate compliance with traffic regulations.
Dare said the proposed shutdown followed a directive from the Minister of Works, David Umahi, amid growing concerns over the safety of motorists, construction workers and other users of the highway.
He said the government would have no option but to restrict access to the road if there was no significant improvement in the next two weeks.
“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,” Dare said.
According to him, the government had an alternative route in the Lekki-Epe Expressway, stressing that the coastal highway remained a construction site and was not originally intended to carry significant traffic before the completion of major bridges and other critical infrastructure.
Dare said allowing motorists to use the highway while construction activities were ongoing had created additional safety challenges, particularly because some drivers continued to disregard the prescribed speed limit.
The Lagos section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway consists of two sections covering approximately 103 kilometres. Section 1 spans about 47 kilometres, while Section 2 covers about 56 kilometres.
There are 20 major bridges across the two sections, with 10 bridges located in each section, several of which are still under construction.
Dare expressed concern over motorists driving at excessive speeds on the highway despite repeated warnings that the maximum permitted speed is 30 kilometres per hour because of ongoing construction works.
He said some motorists had been observed travelling at speeds of up to 120 kilometres per hour on sections where bridge and other construction activities were taking place.
“People who come to the coastal road and get to a speed of 120 kilometres per hour on the coastal road, where constructions are going on, bridges, construction are going on,” he said.
“We have said your speed on the coastal road must not be more than 30 kilometres per hour.”
The controller said the government was particularly concerned about the frequency of accidents and fatalities along the route, warning that continued disregard for safety regulations could no longer be tolerated.
Dare also directed articulated vehicle operators to stop using portions of the highway as temporary parking spaces, noting that trucks and trailers parked along the route could create additional hazards for other road users.
Beyond speeding and indiscriminate parking, he identified illegal U-turns, the use of motorcycles and tricycles, street trading, animal grazing and the erection of illegal structures as other activities threatening safety and traffic management along the highway.
He warned that motorists caught making illegal U-turns would face prosecution, while enforcement agencies would also move against Okada riders, tricycle operators, hawkers and people grazing animals along the route.
“We don’t want Okada motorcycles, tricycles. We don’t want them on the coastal road,” he said.
Dare said the government was also taking steps to strengthen security along the highway following reports of vandalism and other criminal activities.
According to him, the Federal Ministry of Works had reached an agreement with the Lagos State Police Command to increase police deployment along the route 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.
He said stronger security presence was necessary to protect road infrastructure and prevent further attacks on facilities installed to separate construction areas from surrounding communities.
Dare disclosed that about five kilometres of ClearVu fencing had been removed by vandals, while approximately 18 kilometres of concrete covers had also been vandalised and taken away.
He said the vandalism was mostly carried out at night, with perpetrators removing protective infrastructure installed along the highway.
“They come in the night, they remove the ClearVu fence that was used to barricade the communities from the coastal highway,” Dare said.
The controller said the ministry was considering replacing the steel ClearVu fencing with concrete barriers in vulnerable locations, arguing that concrete structures would be more difficult for vandals to dismantle and remove.
“We have to change the strategy. In areas where we have block work today, we do not have any problem with them,” he said.
Dare also disclosed that the government was working towards deploying closed-circuit television cameras along the highway to strengthen surveillance, monitor activities and support enforcement.
As part of the security measures, he said the government had approved the recruitment of 40 members of a coastal guard for the first section of the Lagos route.
According to him, four members would be drawn from each community along the first section, with the guards expected to work in collaboration with the police to provide community-level surveillance and report suspicious activities.
He said additional personnel would be recruited for the second section of the highway as the security arrangement expands.
Dare noted that some coastal guards previously engaged to monitor the highway had been attacked by vandals, making closer coordination with the police necessary.
He said the government planned to reorganise and retrain the coastal guards under the direct supervision of the Lagos State Police Command to improve their effectiveness and security.
The Federal Controller reiterated that the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway remained an active construction corridor and urged motorists to comply strictly with traffic and safety regulations.
He said the government would continue to monitor compliance during the two-week period, stressing that failure to address the identified safety concerns could lead to the closure of the Lagos section of the highway.
The threatened shutdown underscores the growing challenge of balancing access to the strategic coastal road with the need to protect motorists and construction workers while major infrastructure works are still ongoing.
(The Whistler)
