Nigeria can build the new coastal highway and also protect natural areas (commentary)

A commentary examines Nigeria's proposed Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway, a roughly 700-kilometer project routed through or near habitats for endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees and critically endangered Niger Delta red colobus, including Akwa Ibom's Stubb's Creek Forest Reserve, a mangrove system gazetted in 1930. Civil society groups have objected to the routing, citing biodiversity and flood-control value.

The piece argues Nigeria's environmental and social impact assessments too often describe habitats in vague prose without disclosing route alternatives, habitat maps, or independent review, and that public comment frequently arrives after construction pressure has already built. It calls for an avoidance-first standard, elevated crossings over tidal wetlands, and cumulative impact modeling covering decades of induced development, not just initial clearing.

The author points to prior research on Nigeria's Cross River Superhighway suggesting alternative routing could have cut both ecological damage and construction costs, as evidence that better assessment isn't just an environmental nicety but a budget one.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.