Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway: Why Ilaje Must Not Be Left Behind

The Lagos–Calabar Coastal Highway should connect coastal communities to markets, jobs, healthcare, education and investment. Ilaje communities in Ondo State should be meaningfully included in the route and planning of this national project. Improved road access could strengthen fishing, aquaculture, trade, maritime transport, tourism and small businesses across the Ilaje coastline. It could also reduce the isolation that has limited opportunities for residents, especially young people and women whose livelihoods depend on coastal commerce. The argument is not that Ilaje should benefit at the expense of other communities. It is that a highway designed to unlock Nigeria’s coastline should ensure that people living along that coast are participants in its economic promise, not spectators watching development pass them by.

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