Again, FG insists shanties, not properties, were demolished at Landmark

Once again, the federal government of Nigeria has stressed that what it demolished at the Landmark Group’s Beach Resort were shanties and not properties, adding that the management of the real estate firm had no claim on the beachfront.

David Umahi, minister of works, who stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos last Sunday, said government does not compensate for the demolition of shanties which was why, according to him, Landmark was not paid compensation.

“No infrastructure was destroyed at Landmark; we regret the falsehood and inciting statements credited to the Landmark proprietor who claimed that properties worth billions of naira were destroyed at his beach resort,” the minister noted.

The demolition of the Landmark Beach Resort is considered, in some quarters, as a major sore point in the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway construction as the company’s Beach Resort was demolished to create a right-of-way (RoW) for the project.

Read also: Demolition: Landmark Group offers fresh insights on its $200m Beach Resort

The Landmark management estimates the value of their Beach Resort which the government demolished at $200 million, adding that the multi-million-dollar Beach Resort was home to over 80 start-up businesses.

The management, however, says it cannot question the decision of the government to demolish the resort, because, according to Paul Onwuanibe, the Group’s chief executive, “government has the right of eminent domain and so, I have never argued the fact that government has the right to take whatever it likes that is in the private sector for government purpose or for public good.

“One of the things I say to my team is you can’t look behind and in front of you at the same time. When things happen as they have happened to us, you have to find a way to recover. I believe quite strongly that everything you do in life, every experience you have, whether good or bad, is one you have to build on to your advantage in future,” Onwuanibe noted.

The real estate mogul, who spoke in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, confirmed that the government has not paid them any compensation. “We have not been compensated,” he stressed, saying, “I have gone on record to say that if we get compensated, it will help us to touch more lives, create more businesses, and experience.

Onwuanibe hopes also that the compensation, if paid, will be fine because they have had serious financial struggles since the demolition happened. “I hope the compensation will help the various places that we will be going to, including where we are today, Lagos. It will create more impact.

As painful as it is to him, Onwuanibe says there are blessings and opportunities in the demolition of the beach resort, explaining, “if our properties weren’t demolished, maybe we won’t even be going through some of these exponential growth by now; maybe we wouldn’t have had calls from different African Presidents or had the opportunity to sit with state governors to discuss setting up our tourism business in their countries/states.”