The homepage signpost meant to draw patronage to Mami Chula’s website is a note asking guests to come immerse yourself in the art of beachfront luxury, but currently that fantasy exists no more and it is owing to the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway taking a deeper form.

As far as the highway goes, it is a split reaction from the two endpoints Lagos and Calabar in Cross River. Over at the latter, the indigenes cannot wait for the 700 kilometre-long platform spanning through nine states to be completed.

Lagos is the starting point of the coastal road, which goes through the Lekki Deep Seaport, Ogun, Ondo, Delta, Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom, before reaching the endpoint of Cross River.

Works minister Dave Umahi starting off the road alignment process on Saturday 27 April, said this demolition is going to have a pure human face and so with the utmost fear of God, gratitude to God Almighty and commitment to the Renewed Hope agenda of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in our infrastructural development in particular, I wish to flag-off this demolition exercise to get a right of way within the coastal corridor, which is the legitimate right of the Federal Government.

Those Criticizing the Ongoing Lagos- Calabar Coastal Highway Project Being Done by The Renewed Hope Administration Of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Either Have Little Knowledge of the Concept of EPC+F On Project Financing Or Are Deliberately…https://t.co/MCcvY0xjSu pic.twitter.com/tNYfVrm8xx

— Federal Ministry of Works (@FMWNIG) April 23, 2024

In the past weeks, there has been a focus on what fate awaits oceanfront communities like the hospitable Landmark Hotel and Beach Resort although at the weekend, it was at Mami Chula located at the Oniru Private Beach that bulldozers first began bringing down the beach life structures, like breezy terraced seating areas where the guests could sit or wild out.

ALSO READ: Coastal highway at the cost of jobs and serene beachlife

Swings and swerves by the bulldozer ground all that beauty to bits of sandy floor and therein lies the ending of this highly visited venue. A video capturing the demolition saw the machine motioned through thatched roofing that made sheds for megacity fun seekers.

While the demolition was going on, the businesses at the Landmark Hotel and Beach Resort were bracing up for the moment when the bulldozer would rip through them as it did at their neighbour’s one-time domain.

The sheer fact that they were going to be losing their jobs, the workers at the establishment were right not to be pleased because the pulling down of buildings began today on their turf.

It is a hospitality business as you can see, it’s not a transportation business, so we’re not going to have a job anymore. So, what they’re going to do is not going to create any job [opportunities] for any of us, rather, they’re going to steal from our mouth. None of us is happy.

Who knows when they’re going to demolish everywhere and [then] send us off the beach? Who knows? Nobody knows.

Who’s going to help? I don’t know. Maybe someone might, I don’t know. But we really need help. We don’t want them to take this away from us, says staff at one of the leisure service around Landmark in an Arise News reporting.

At this early stage of the demolition, there are comments on social media encouraging the demolition but the other side of the coin also shows negative, sentiments doubting that the highway will be completed.

With the possibility of the coastal express turning into a white elephant project, commentaries on X questioned why construction could not begin in Calabar.

Why start the project from Lagos, where billions of Naira businesses will be affected, why not start from Calabar so that these businesses can have more time to negotiate better deal and plan better with the government on a win-win result just like Seven-up did back then?, this tweet by CountlessWealth was asking.

Why start the project from Lagos, where billions of Naira businesses will be affected, why not start from Calabar so that these businesses can have more time to negotiate better deal and plan better with the government on a win – win result just like Seven-up did back then?

— C.W.T 🦅 (The Street) 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 (@CountlessWealth) April 29, 2024

HosefJoey would love to be right about the project turning out as a failure to indicate how predictable the leaders can be. I will watch closely, I predict headlines like “After 4 years, Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project not completed.

I will watch closely, I predict headlines like " after 4 years, lagos-calabar costal highway project not completed".

I will watch closely

— HOSEF (@HosefJoey) April 28, 2024

Ayodele Johnson

Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.