Residents of Ikota county and residents owners association, located along Eti-Osa Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos have protested against what they described as the arrogance and lack of respect for their rights, opinions, feelings of the home owners and residents by the management of the Lekki county management company.
The residents and home owners who staged a peaceful protest in the estate on Saturday called on the Lekki County management company to provide quality services, and be accountable to the inhabitants of the estate.
The homeowners who revealed that they have never seen the audited reports and records of the management company carried placards with various inscriptions such as, “Stop the lies”; “don’t harbor criminals”; “no more thugs”; “give us our documents”; “give us stable water supply”.
Briefing journalists during peaceful protest at the main gate of the Ikota County Estate; the Chairman of the Ikota residents and owners association, Dr. Ndubusi Okaro, disclosed that the level of insecurity which has led to the agitation and fear of the residents was as a result of a large number of artisans brought to the area by the developer.
He explained that the developer also breached their contractual obligations towards the residents, stressing that the developer has allowed his personal interest to override the legitimate interest of the home owners.
Dr Okaro, expressed concern that some of the artisans now sleep in uncompleted buildings, thereby increasing theft of valuables and insecurity and fear among residents.
“The residents are here today because we are demanding accountability from the management company. Since the second quarter of 2022, they have refused to provide the quarterly statement of account to the residents association. We fund the management company for services, our demand is that you cannot take money from residents and not account for it,” he said.
Dr. Ndubisi Okaro also disclosed that the level of unrest and cases of stealing in the area had been reported to the police, stressing that legal actions had also been taken against the management and developers, who continue to impose unwanted and unwarranted policies and actions towards homeowners.
He further revealed that some set of residents, who are not members of the association, go about soliciting for help and making monetary transactions on behalf of the home owners and residents’ association.
Speaking about the measures the Lagos state government can take,to help break the monopoly of the management company, a former chairman of the association, Sukanmi Olowo, asked them to look into the excesses of the management company of the estate.
“Lagos State Government has a law that artisans are not allowed to stay in uncompleted buildings. Some of the security challenges we have, is the case of artisans living with us and every attempt to eject them, the developer and management company have not been cooperative.
“If the artisans can come in here and go home after their daily work, it would improve the security problem we are facing in the estate.We also seek the support of the government to help us look into this matter and find a long-lasting solution,” he added.
In the same vein, the residents therefore called for the support of other home owners in the estate, to help financially, in order to get a good legal team, to prosecute all those accused of stealing or involved in other malfeasance in the estate and to curb the excesses of the developer and management company.
The residents, during the peaceful protest,unanimously agreed to sack the current security company guarding the estate, who were employed by the management company.
They insisted that they were terminating the contract of the estate security company because the developer single-handedly took the decision to employ them without prior notice of the Lekki County Home Owners and Residents association#