Shut

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 safety regulations. The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Olufemi Dare, issued the warning on Monday during an inspection of the highway, citing persistent safety breaches, vandalism and illegal activities. Dare said the warning followed a directive from the Minister of Works, David Umahi. “Within two weeks, if there’s no improvement on all these issues, then we have no option than to come back and shutdown this road,” he said. Government Enforces 30km/h Speed Limit Dare said the coastal highway remains under construction and should ordinarily not have been opened to traffic before the completion of its bridges. The Lagos section covers about 103 kilometres across two sections, with 47km in Section 1 and 56km in Section 2. The two sections have 20 major bridges, many of which are still under construction. He expressed concern over motorists driving at excessive speeds, despite the prescribed 30km/h speed limit. “People who come to coastal road and get to a speed of 120 kilometres per hour on the coastal road, and 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.” Dare said accidents were occurring on the highway “almost every other day” and warned that the government could no longer ignore the situation. Police Deployment, Crackdown on Illegal Activities The controller said the government had reached an agreement with the Lagos State Police Command to increase security along the highway. He also warned articulated vehicle operators against parking on the road and announced a crackdown on illegal U-turns, Okada motorcycles, tricycles, hawking, animal grazing and illegal structures. “We don’t want Okada motorcycles, tricycles. We don’t want them on the coastal road,” Dare said. Vandals Target Highway Infrastructure Dare identified vandalism as another major challenge, saying at least five kilometres of ClearVu fencing had been removed, while about 18 kilometres of concrete covers had also been vandalised. “They come in the night, they remove the ClearVu fence that was used to barricade the communities from the coastal highway,” he said. The government is considering replacing vulnerable sections of the steel fencing with concrete barriers and deploying CCTV cameras to strengthen surveillance. 40 Coastal Guards Approved Dare also disclosed that the government had approved the recruitment of 40 coastal guards for the first section of the highway, with four expected to be drawn from each community along the route. The guards will work with the police to provide community-level surveillance, while additional personnel will be recruited for Section 2. He said the coastal guards would be reorganised and trained under the supervision of the Lagos State Police Command.