Lekki Seaport: Anxiety Grips Residents as Project Nears Completion

Residents around the Lekki Peninsula are visibly concerned that the once peaceful and serene environment may turn out to be another Apapa when Deep Seaport becomes fully operational.

This is even as the Federal Government has provided sovereign guarantees totalling $3.306 billion and N2.72 trillion for infrastructure projects currently going on across the country, including the Lekki Deep Seaport project. The port is about 98 per cent completed and the test run of the facility has also commenced.

Some Baales (community chiefs/leaders) and rich individuals within and around the port areas have started relocating from that axis, we have learnt.

Unconfirmed reports revealed that some of the Baale that got handsome cash compensation for lands acquired have also relocated, leaving their subjects and less-privileged behind.

Speaking on the development, Mr Olawale Domingo, a resident in Akodo, a community within the port area, confirmed the relocation of some Baale, adding that payments they got from promoters of the port facilitated their movement to more comfortable areas within the Lekki Peninsula.

Domingo said siting the port in the area had led to a sharp increase in values of lands and properties in the axis.

He said: “Apart from the port that took a sizeable chunk of the lands from communities, some big conglomerates have acquired lands from within the port areas as well.

“Most of the Baales have relocated; they only come around when there are community issues to be discussed. Some of them now live in better areas of Lekki.”

He explained that though the port had not started operations, residents were already experiencing heavy-duty cement of heavy-duty vehicles, thereby compounding the already bad traffic situation along the roads.

Another residence, Funmi Ajayi, who lives around the Eleko Beach area of the port, said though the port had not started, residents were already feeling the pressure of traffic in the area.

Although he said the roads were being expanded, he lamented that it was going at a very slow pace.

September 21, 2022