A mild drama ensued on Arise Television on Friday when Minister of Works, David Umahi, told anchor Ojy Okpe ‘let me educate you’.
This occurred during an exclusive interview which centered on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The presenter had asked the minister about complaints that the highway was causing flooding in Lagos communities.
The minister, however, cut in, insisting that many Nigerians discussing the project do not understand the engineering behind it.
“Let me educate you, Ojy Okpe. The coastal highway is not flooded and will never get flooded,” Umahi said.
The minister said many houses along the corridor were built about 50 years ago below flood level when there was nothing like climate change, explaining that the area has the ocean on the right and the lagoon on the left. He added that the road was raised above flood level to prevent water from entering residential areas.
“The houses were built below the flood level. When we did our study, we found that we needed to raise the coastal highway above the flood level and that is what happened,” he said.
Umahi said the road has about 10 different evacuation channels and multiple culverts to take water to the lagoon, dismissing claims linking the highway to flooding. According to him, flooding in the area started long before the project.
“Before the construction of the coastal highway, was there flooding within that area? The answer is yes. The coastal highway has nothing to do with flooding,” he added.
