On Monday, a portion of Landmark Beach on Victoria Island, Lagos was destroyed to make room for Nigeria’s largest public infrastructure project, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

This is true even if some people have expressed outrage about the loss of possible jobs and sources of income.

While defending the demolition, Minister of Works Dave Umahi pointed out that it was essential because the historic center was situated on federal government property.

The minister had previously promised that “permanent structures” would remain untouched and that only 50 meters of the shoreline and a few shanties would be destroyed as part of the coastal highway project’s design.

Pictures from the destruction revealed that many of the buildings along the coastline, including cabanas and football fields, had been demolished. The center’s Breeze Beach Club was demolished as well.

The parent company of the beach, Landmark Africa, responded to the exercise with a post on X that said, “What we built in six years was destroyed in six hours,” presumably referring to their $200 million investment that was destroyed. But they did pledge to return.

Recalling how Landmark’s owner, Paul Onwuanibe, had previously begged the government to relocate the coastal road’s development back to its original alignment before it was moved to the beachfront?

According to him, the original proposal will spare the government resources like cash and labor in addition to saving companies that the amended plan would have destroyed.

“The original alignment of the coastal road was Water Corporation Road. I mean, you had the picture on your screen, and it showed quite clearly the Water Corporation Road, the two feeder lanes, and then the medium that was meant to house it.

“Then there’s Landmark, and there’s the beach, and there’s the sea. The alignment was changed from Water Corporation Road… so instead of it running on the land side of Landmark, it’s going to run on the beach side of Landmark,” he told Arise TV.