Minister of Works, David Umahi, has dismissed claims linking the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway to flooding in communities along its corridor, blaming the situation on climate change and global warming.
Umahi said the flooding in the affected areas predated the highway’s construction, arguing that the project should not be held responsible for a problem he described as a consequence of changing weather patterns.
The minister spoke on Sunday during an interview on Channels Television, where he also criticised social media users for making claims about the project without adequate technical knowledge.
“The Coastal Highway has nothing to do with flooding,” Umahi said, adding that infrastructure built decades ago had not been designed to accommodate the effects of climate change and global warming.
He explained that unusual flooding was not peculiar to Nigeria, citing his experience in Paris, France, where he said some buildings had experienced severe flooding, forcing occupants to relocate their ground-floor activities to higher levels.
“At the coastal highway corridor, the premises were built below the unexpected flood level occasioned by global warming, the climate change,” he said.
Umahi argued that flooding had occurred in communities along the highway corridor before construction began, insisting that the project was not the cause of the problem.
“Before the construction of Coastal Highway, was there flooding within that premises? The answer is yes,” he said.
The minister challenged critics to consider the impact of climate change and the occurrence of unusual flooding across the country before attributing the problem to the highway.
He also questioned why flooding was being reported in areas on both sides of the coastal road if the project was responsible for the situation.
“The Coastal Highway has nothing to do with the flooding. Otherwise, if it is what is causing the flooding, why is there flooding left and right of the Coastal Highway?” he asked.
Umahi described the highway as a significant infrastructure project and took aim at critics he accused of commenting on its impact without sufficient technical understanding.
“It’s a beauty to behold, and so people just started counselling without knowledge. You see that there are emergency engineers these days, people just talk on social media anyhow,” he said.
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