The Economic Of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has sensitised stakeholders in the communities to be impacted by the construction of the 1,028km Abidjan-Lagos corridor Highway Development project.
The 10 lanes highway road project led by Economic Of West African States, (ECOWAS), the Heads of state and Governments of all the five (5) member countries of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire was expected to be the catalyst for development for the ECOWAS.
Project Director Communication and Visibility Study for the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project, David Nwedu during the 2-day sensitization exercise at the Agbara and Seme Krake border communities updated the participants on how far they have gone and the next steps to be taken.
He averred that the project which would be funded by African Development Bank and European Union has gone through all the stages of the design and because it is not just for Nigeria alone, but has to do with Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire as member states.
According to him, “We have also the design according to different levels of verifications, especially concerning places like who will have to have interchange flyovers and all sorts of things and that’s why the design took so much time.”
Explaining the importance of the project to the stakeholders, Mr.Nwedu said that 75% of the income of the ECOWAS submission is vested in Nigeria, Benin Togo and Ghana in terms of manpower, resources, traffic, adding that they could not build the road for people to pass but looking at possible businesses, industries, and other things that should spring up along the road to make people viable.
The Project Communication Director further stated that the road would last for several years as detailed technical issues have to be taken into consideration, and that’s why the design is nearly completion.
He maintained that the last side of the design represented these men for approval by the Council of Ministers as there are five ministers on the board and the Minister of Works, Nigeria, are sharing with the council the news of wars.
“So, these ministers will rectify this design and to our advantage, the fact that the Minister of Works is an engineer, so he sees the road. The last time he presented the design to me, he gave me and said, Go back and look at my inputs and incorporate it into what I do. So he is looking at something that could be beneficial to Nigeria and also to the community.
“That is why the design is taking such a long time. and not just a road. It should be a place where we can have where we have industrial areas in our special development, we look at how many industries we feed into the road. People move goods to and for the road. So the road will have places where we have industrial layouts.
“The last time went from the Republic, I went to the industrial layout, a very beautiful and humongous industrial layout. And so that’s the type of thing we’re looking at, the coal-free zone, and all the industries that are coming up from this area, incorporating it to the road, such as the road, not just road for people to pass, and in so doing, it will now be a source of development for the communities around and offer employment opportunities for our youth and development for all the people around. So that’s why the special development initiative was taken, and a lot has been done in that respect. We also had trade and transport facilitation with a study on the change and transport face”. Nwedu concluded.
In the same vein, Lagos Controller, Federal Ministry of Works, Mrs Olukorede Kesha while addressing the participants said that the stakeholders sensitization meeting was an update of what they have before and they want to have it in archives if there are issues that have not been addressed so that by the time the project start, it will be in full force and government will not be patient to entertain any question.
She stressed that no contrary view would be accommodated after this stakeholders’ engagement along the corridor, adding that if there are issues that we think we have not talked about or we have not touched. This is the time for you to say it and it will be documented, it will be looked at, it will be reviewed, and then we can consider that during the execution of the project.
Mrs Kesha urged the participants to cooperate with governments, programs, plans, and policies while telling them that the right of way has been designated and presented by the Federal committee, and it is not to be judged because, by the time they call before the enumeration, they had already known the people on the ground. So new things springing up now will not be entertained, and they may not be provided because the government works according to budget.
According to the Works Controller, “They need to be aware, just like people said, that they have never attended this kind of meeting. You know, we won’t capture everybody at the same time. We’re trying to reintroduce this project that is coming up by the employers. We are reintroducing it to the people this morning.”
The two days sensitization programmes were well attended by the traditional rulers, Community heads, Women leaders, Youth leaders, transporter workers, military and paramilitary amongst others.
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