- Umahi Counters, Says Landmark Illegally Coveted Waterfront
By Kolawole Ojebisi
The Chief Executive Office, of Landmark Africa Group, Paul Onwuanibe, has lamented the emotional and financial toll the decision of the Federal Government to demolish parts of the company is taking on him and others with stakes in the investment.
This is as Onwuanibe disclosed that the company paid over N10bn in taxes a year before the demolition of parts of its premises as a result of the construction of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The Landmark CEO revealed this while speaking at the KK Show via YouTube on Saturday adding that the seven days’ notice given by FG before the demolition was not enough as there were no prior contingency plans
He said, “First, when you speak to people, you think surely a demolition was not going to happen; the coastal road had been designated on the Water Corporation Road; why would it be changed? It was meant to be in front of us, not behind us; second, it is just a socio-economic activity. We paid over N10bn in taxes the year before; we employed so many people and so many visitors; we were the only business listed on the government’s private tourism website.
“The biggest tragedy of this was the businesses that were affected by the losses of revenue in both the formal and informal aspects. On the formal side, all the businesses that were within the Landmark ecosystem and all the beaches that were destroyed without notice, many of them didn’t have the time to remove the televisions from their walls, or fridges from the kitchen, among other things. I remember when Breeze was being demolished, there were guests in the pool.
“There were over 160,000 members of the beach; we had N9.2bn of members’ money in our accounts.
“There were over 200 contracts for the supply of water, fumigation, and lifeguard services, all of which had to be renegotiated. Sometimes, you wish there was a natural disaster so you could invoke force majeure, but this wasn’t the case. To put in perspective, we had four and a half million visitors a year, and we employed 4,000 people.“
Speaking on compensation, Onwuanibe said the action by the government was enough to scare foreign direct investors from investing their money in Nigeria.
The Landmark boss said, “Not a penny; to date, we haven’t been compensated; nobody has written to me and promised to compensate.”
He lamented the land was acquired from the government for $17m in 2006, and the firm took a facility worth $30m to develop the property.
He said, “We were issued a seven-day notice. I mean, to be fair, it took another two or three months before it came. Till today, nobody picked up the phone, called me, or wrote to me personally and said, Here is the issue we have, or here is what is going to happen.
“That site we bought in 2006 (18 years ago), and we paid $17m in 2006. We borrowed $30m to develop that beach. The pain and the hurt are that we spent $30m developing the infrastructure on that beach. Onwuanibe explained that the demolition highlighted the need for geographical diversification to reduce the risks of concentrated investments.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Works, David Umahi, had said Landmark Group illegally coveted the Lagos Waterfront located on the path of the Lagos-Calabar Highway.
He said, “What Landmark was talking about was a kind of waterfront that was never a waterfront; it was part of the Eko Atlantic to protect the entire Victoria Island and Lekki.
“Hence, it is not good to darken counsel without knowledge, and that’s why we invited the press to report properly.
“What Landmark did wisely, disadvantaged the Federal Government, is that over the years, they illegally coveted that waterfront; the waterfront legally is the responsibility of the Federal Government that is the owner because of Supreme Court Judgement and the constitution.”
The minister reiterated that the shoreline belonged to the Federal Government, not Landmark Group.
“Two hundred and fifty meters from the shoreline belongs to the Federal Government, and you know it is only in Nigeria you illegally occupy the property of the government and nobody will ask questions, so we had to ask questions to pass the coastal road through here.
“In addition, Eko Atlantic has taken part of the place given to them by law, and we had to pass the coastal way within the right of our ownership.
“This is why it is essential you know the truth, and the truth will set our nation free,” Umahi added.
