Imagine waking up to the news that the government has marked your house, which has been home to your family for close to 20 years, for demolition to give way to the construction of a road. This is the fate of Samuel Obioh, a father, husband, grandfather and retiree, whose property located around the Iroko-Awe area of Lekki has been marked for demolition. When he first got the notice from the government in March, he thought it would only affect a portion of his fence. However, he and his wife have now moved out of their home to a rented apartment. Although the government has yet to demolish the building, he is at risk of losing everything.
Obioh narrates his troubles to ABIMBOLA ABATTA in this interview.
When did the government mark your property for demolition?
It was marked in March 2024, and since then, we have been participating in stakeholders’ meetings. We have been impressing on them that they can save most of the properties here if they revert to the old alignment of about 50 metres. And, actually, the minister made a pronouncement that the road had been redesigned to 50 metres.
I understand that you no longer stay in this house. When and why did you leave?
We moved out of here about a month ago. That was in June. The government had already given us a notice to remove our property that fell on the right of way of the coastal road. The deadline was about two weeks from the date they gave us the notice in March. However, because we had been talking, we felt that, along the line, the government would reconsider their position and redesign the road to save some of the properties on this axis. This axis is called Iroko-Awe, close to Ilasan. It’s still under the Elegushi royal family, and the Elegushi royal family has the global C of O in this area.
A copy of the notice obtained from Samuel Obioh
When did you acquire this land? And how much did you spend on building the house?
I don’t have the figure right, but I want to state that I filled this land up to six feet. If you check the other area that I did not fill, you will find that it is six feet deep. Where we are standing now is more than six feet deep. That would tell you how much went into here.
Number two, the foundation was not an ordinary one because the place was swampy. We had to do a raft foundation, and I did it with about six boards. The board is nine inches. A lot of money went into this place. At that time, it took me about five years to build this place. Most of my resources went into it. The estimated value of this house at that time would be about N100 million.
READ ALSO: ‘I’ll Smoke and Go Mad’ — How a Frustrated Chef Wants to Handle Landmark Beach Resort Demolition
How did you feel when you got the notice from the government?
We were devastated. Very, very devastated. Right now, I am retired, and I have been retired for close to 10 years. So, the resources to move to another place and to build this kind of place again are no longer available. So, we were devastated. We were very sorrowful. We did not know what to do. We had to scrap and borrow money to go and rent another place. You can imagine the trauma you have to go through if you happen to be in your house and, all of a sudden, you become a tenant and there is nothing to show for it.
When we built this house, the coastal road was marked in front of my fence. That was what gave us the courage to start building the house. If the coastal road had been marked towards the part where we built on, we would not have built it then. We would have left the land until the issue of the coastal road was resolved. But they marked it at the gate, after my fence. They even published the coordinates of the right of way in the PUNCH newspapers in 2003. It’s in the public domain. They can use that coordinate to plot and see that it is not my fault. It is the government’s fault if they have to change their mind to expand the coastal road. Compensation should be made such that one can afford a place maybe within this range or about one kilometre towards Ajah or another place. Not just being able to afford another land, but being able to afford to build a comfortable house.
At what point did the government talk about compensation? Did it come from them first or from you?
After they had given us the notice, they called us for the first stakeholders’ meeting with everybody in this area that the right of way had affected. During the meeting, the minister said the road had been reviewed from 100 metres to 50 metres. We were very happy because when we came here, we hired a surveyor and asked him to mark 50 metres. That 50 metres fell exactly at the point that the proposed coastal road fell on in 2003. There was no point talking about compensation because we felt, “Well, it’s just scraping the fence”.
When they came to mark the 50 metres, we were surprised that they were still marking 100 metres. Some weeks ago, there was information. Some people started pulling down their houses, stripping the houses down to at least get some revenue from it. Just before the Salah [celebrations], people were told to stop stripping down their houses because the government was reviewing to redesign the road and so many people would no longer be affected again.
They said the government was redesigning the road at 60 metres and not 100 metres. We were still surprised that when they came to mark this particular axis, they still marked 96 metres instead of the 60 metres that was proposed. This was just about a week ago. We were surprised. We don’t even know who is telling us the truth because I reached out to the federal ministry of works in Lagos, and they said it was 60 metres. I reached out to other staff in the ministry, and they also said it was 60 metres that they should mark.
Obioh’s home before they moved out
Obioh’s home before they moved out
Did you have a conversation with the people who marked the building?
No. They came on a Saturday. I did not even see them. They sneaked in on Saturday because we were here on the Friday before that day. They sneaked in on Saturday to mark the place and left. It was neighbours who called to tell us that those people came and it was not 60 metres again. We came back and checked. When we measured it, it was 96 metres, not 60 metres. If it was 60 metres, it would not have affected the building. The issue of compensation might not have even come up.
How much is the government proposing, and when do they want to pay?
During the second stakeholders’ meeting, which the government called – that was about June – we saw the federal ministry of works controller in Lagos State, and the amount proposed to me as compensation was about two percent of the worth of this property.
How much is that?
I cannot tell you the figure because of the indemnity clause that I signed.
If you were to estimate the actual cost of this property, both the land and building, what would it be?
This land is 1,500 square metres, and that is about three plots of land. In this area, three plots of land will cost about N250 million per plot. That’s N750 million. To build a house like this now, one will have about N250 million. So, we are looking at about N1 billion. You might ask why the other part of the compound is not developed. It’s because I felt, since they had marked the coastal road in front of my place, this place was going to be [used for] business. Maybe I would turn it into a filling station. So, the property would be in the range of about N1 billion. Imagine somebody proposing to pay me two percent of that. That two percent is just the annual rent for this place.
When was the last time you met with the government?
The last time we met with the government officially was in June.
READ ALSO: Gov’t Starts Sanding Landmark Beach
Is there any hope that the compensation will be increased or reviewed?
I don’t know about that. That is why I am appealing through this medium that they should do something about the compensation or they should do something about the extent of the road. If they reduce it to the former 50 or 60 metres, there will not be a need for compensation, and really, we are not interested in the compensation. We are more interested in keeping our property as much as we can. I know that part of the property may go, but the building should not go because there is ample space out there. There is a service lane of about 11 metres that they have left. After 11 metres, they started measuring 96 metres from there.
If you check Ozumba Mbadiwe, between law school and Admiralty Way, there is no service lane. Nobody has had an accident there, and that road has been in use for so long. This is a built-up area. When you are designing a road in a built-up area, you take certain things into consideration. You don’t design the road as if it’s a place where people don’t live. Sometimes, the road is curved. Sometimes, it is straight. That is what I am appealing to the government to do. We are not trying to fight the government; we are just trying to bring to their notice that this thing could be done in a better way that would satisfy everybody.
The minister said when you want to eat omelettes, you break the egg. But the egg should not be bitter for some people while it is sweet for some people. It should be sweet for everyone. This coastal road is being handled by the federal government and private investments. Why does the federal government want to turn us into paupers because of the coastal road when it can be avoided? If it cannot be avoided, we will understand. Why do they want to enrich themselves by turning us into poor people? Why do they want to enrich their partners? Because they are still going to collect toll gate [fees], that makes it a profit-making venture. Why do they have to take the small one that we have and add to the much that they have? It is not a fair outlook on things.
What’s your favourite memory of this place?
I have a lot of memories. One day, when this thing was on and one of my sons came, he said the memories he had of this place were so many. He was saying he remembered when this thing was here and when that was here, and how when they were young, they were always playing football here. It nearly brought tears to my eyes, but sometimes we men cannot be that emotional. Our emotions are inside our hearts. When you get emotional, a lot of people around you will break down. I have a lot of memories of this place. I knew when I had certain things here and when my children were playing all over the place. Even when my grandchildren come, they don’t want to go back because their place is not as spacious as here, so they have a lot of room to play around here. And I am so handicapped where I now rented. I am choked up there.
Do you think the low compensation has anything to do with the inability to provide certain documents? Do you have all the land documents?
Well, the minister has said the federal government is not interested in documentation. The only documentation they want is that you are the owner of the property, and I have the documents to show that I am the owner. And those documents are filed with the federal ministry of works and the Lagos state government.
READ ALSO: Rubbles, Roaring Tractors, Police Officers… A Day in Ikota, Where Lagos Gov’t Is Demolishing Illegal Structures
What do you make of or think of the demolition?
I am a very, very fair person in my assessment of things. I was involved in project management for the better part of my career before I retired. [On] the demolition of people’s properties, some can be avoided if they really put their heads [together] to see how they can work out a better way. Some cannot be avoided. But [the demolition of] some of the properties on this axis can be avoided.
What other troubles has this planned demolition caused you?
Where we live now is far, far, far down from here. In short, it can be said that it is in between here and Epe. Waking up in the morning to come out, you have to leave the house by 5am, unlike this place. If we wanted to leave for Lagos, we did it by 7am or 8 am. But for the past few days that I have been coming here, it has looked as if I am still working, like I am no longer retired because I have to leave the house to come here. And if you don’t leave that early, you can get trapped in the traffic.
What exactly do you want from the government?
What I want from the government is this: One, they have said that they are proposing 60 metres, let that 60 metres pass through this place. They should not take 96 or 100 metres. Two, if actually they still want to take over this place, then compensation should be commensurate. I am expecting 70 percent of the worth of this property; that should be around N700 million. With that, I can buy land on the outskirts of this place and build a house.
The post INTERVIEW: From Landlord to Tenant… 2% Compensation for Lagos Retiree Forced Out of N1b Property Over Coastal Road appeared first on Exposed.Quest The Quest for X !.