The men and women pouring concrete on Nigeria’s priciest road have downed tools — and their complaints go beyond wages. Workers on Section 3B of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway began protesting on Monday, demanding the removal of expatriate managers over alleged salary deductions, unpaid entitlements, intimidation and poor working conditions — and vowing to stay out until someone listens.
What the Workers Are Alleging
The complaints, laid out by workers to reporters, paint a picture of a site running on two tiers. Esikere Peter, a quality control and laboratory worker, alleged that management cut paid working hours — shaving salaries — while night shifts stretching to 11 p.m. were allegedly excluded from workers’ records. He further accused an unnamed project manager of arbitrary dismissals and intimidation, claiming some workers were penalised simply for requesting the materials they needed to do their jobs. “We are demanding the removal of the project manager, the site manager and the earth-moving supervisor, who have continuously treated workers unfairly,” he said.
A trailer driver, Stephen Oke, alleged that expatriate managers disrespect and intimidate Nigerian employees while local workers perform most tasks under harsh conditions for less pay. Ana Matthew, who handles earth-moving and level checking, said staff work in harsh weather without adequate shelter and suffer payment reductions despite day-and-night shifts — and alleged that scrap materials once shared among workers were sold off without their consent. Female workers added a starker complaint: the company provides no separate restroom facilities for women, while expatriate staff enjoy several. The workers were careful to frame the action as a demand for dignity, not destruction — while security personnel, including soldiers, were deployed to the site, which one worker, Matthew, alleged was being used to intimidate protesters.
The Liaison Officer at the Centre of the Storm
The protest also has a personnel cause: workers are demanding the reinstatement of Asuquo Ukpayang as Cross River Liaison Officer, alleging the expatriate managers refused to work with him because he represented their interests. Ukpayang confirmed awareness of the complaints — salary deductions, unpaid entitlements, unfair treatment — and disclosed that the wife of the Cross River governor had previously raised workers’ welfare with the company’s management. He pledged to engage senior and local management, the Federal Controller of Works and the Minister of Works to force dialogue, urging protesters to stay peaceful and nominate representatives. Their answer? He is the only representative they want.
Why This Project Can’t Afford This Fight
The Coastal Highway is the administration’s signature infrastructure promise, designed to thread Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River into one coastal corridor. Sites this political move at the speed of their headlines — and the funding debates around big projects, including the fresh $20.5bn and €1.04bn loan requests before the National Assembly, make labour peace a national story, not a site grievance. It also lands in the same week the government trumpeted power-sector wins like 640MW added to the national grid — infrastructure credibility is only as strong as the conditions of the people building it. Efforts to get the company’s reaction were unsuccessful as calls and messages went unanswered; the workers, meanwhile, say the protest holds until their demands do.
