Tinubu Appeals For Patience Amid Ongoing Reforms

President Bola Tinubu urged Nigerians to remain patient with his administration, acknowledging the country’s ongoing economic challenges while reaffirming his dedication to national transformation.

During remarks delivered on Saturday at the commissioning of Phase 1, Section 1—a six-lane, 30km segment—of the 750km Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, he addressed widespread public concerns regarding economic hardship. He stated that he was aware of the high expectations and the difficult circumstances many citizens were experiencing but encouraged Nigerians to continue holding on to hope, which he insisted was both real and attainable.

The president expressed optimism about the trajectory of his reforms, noting that inflation was beginning to ease. He further emphasized that corruption in the foreign exchange system had been addressed and the abuse of fuel subsidies significantly reduced. He assured the public that the positive outcomes of these reforms would soon become evident.

“It is all for you the people, we are reducing the cost of manufacturing, and encouraging manufacturing locally. We give all incentives for everyone to abide by the principle. May God bless our country; may God bless Lagos State and keep our fighting soldiers safe.”

Tinubu warned developers, noting that development on land without approval would not be compensated.

“Let me at this stage warn all developers, the Federal Government reinforced the setbacks for the interest of our nation, development without approval will not be compensated. We have gazetted and published the setbacks, we are going to enforce it rigidly in every way possible,” he stated.

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, said the project was designed on a six-lane carriageway with a total corridor width of 60m.

According to him, only the landmark’s encroachment on the front shoreline was touched during the construction of the road.

“Mr President, I want to state that we did no harm to the landmark property. It is by your order that we should save as much infrastructure as possible even though they violated the gazetted route.

“The landmark infrastructure is intact, what went off was their encroachment on our front shoreline, and the Supreme Court ruled that 250 metres from the shoreline belong to the Federal Government, and so we didn’t do that,” Umahi said.

The Minister revealed that President Bola Tinubu has directed governors of states hosting major Federal Government infrastructure projects to allocate a minimum setback of 500 metres from the edge of the carriageway, which will be integrated into the tolling framework.

While current legislation does not mandate compensation for informal or illegal structures along federal roads, the Minister noted that the President had instructed that such payments be made regardless, as a matter of compassion and fairness.

He went on to confirm that a total of ₦18 billion has already been disbursed as compensation for properties affected by Phase 1 of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.