THE CABLE
Most of the tourists are Nigerians. Others are foreigners on work-related trips from faraway India, China, Pakistan, the US, and other countries.
On April 27, the kite surfers rode the tailwinds along Landmark’s beachfront in Victoria Island, Lagos state, too carefreely for a leisure destination that would soon give way to the initial stretch of a 753-km coastal road project.
A team of ready-to-dive lifeguards stood alert in front of the shoreline, spreading out by at least 40 metres apart to enforce safety. At 6pm, swimmers and surfers were summoned out of the water. One of the lifeguards pensively overlooked the orange hue of an imminent sunset.
“Everything you see here will be gone,” he remarked a little too loudly, struggling to be audible over the whistling beach breeze.
He shooed away a toddler straddling a long halyard, a little too close to the water, past the swimming time. The lifeguard shook his head in disapproval and passively added, “Thousands of people are employed here. Do you know how many businesses and jobs will be affected?”
Inflatable waterparks stood floating for patronage about 20 feet past the waterfront while sun loungers in their bikinis, beach hats, and shorts basked in nature and nap in a two-sided procession of tents.
Scattered all over the beach were chattering revellers — Asians playing soccer, half-clad tourists competing in a game of volleyball, restaurants serving fast food, vendors grilling meat, corporates raising a toast in picnics, paintball fanatics, and swimmers in the backdrop splashing pool water as music drowned out all else. Run by lifestyle businesses, these services see massive patronage.
Skis darted across the low-pressure water, picking up paying riders from ramps on both ends of the 770-metre stretch of beachfront. But as the fun continued, giant dredging vessels sand-filled away in a state-sanctioned operation that made the water brown with froth.
Sand-filling at Landmark Beach
Landmark prided itself on owning the “first in-city private beachfront” in Lagos. It hosted a myriad of infrastructure and leisure activities offered by over 40 businesses, reportedly valued at over ₦20 billion. The infrastructure was said to have cost at least ₦25 billion to put in place. Paul Onwuanibe, its managing director, said the Landmark ecosystem accounted for over 12,000 direct or indirect employments and attracted over 3.5 million tourists annually in a venture that generated millions in weekly revenue since it started operating out of Oniru Estate in 2007.
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