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Untold Story of How Chevy View Estate Wallows in Govt Neglect + Residents Spend Millions to Provide Amenities, Cry Out for Help

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By Eric Elezuo

Chevy View Estate, located along the supposedly highbrow area of the Chevron Drive, in Lekki, is bordered by Bera and Chevron estates on both sides. The Estate, according to residents, was an eyesore many years ago when the residents took possession. The roads were crooked, flood was constantly having a field day and electricity was a tall dream, in fact, a mirage even as getting water is always a story for another day. The story of Chevy View Estate is chronicle of government’s inordinate neglect, parastatal’s extortion tendencies and lackadaisical attitude of those programmed to attend to the needs of the people.

Buoyed by the desire to give the necessary assistant to government and make their environment habitable, the residents began self-help programmes in the area of roads, electricity and general infrastructure with the hope that the Lagos State government will zero in on their efforts and do the needful as a listening and caring government. But many years after, their aspirations remain a mirage, more like hallucination. No government presence has been registered in the neighbourhood, the millions of naira spent so far by residents on projects notwithstanding!

Comprising about 19 districts namely Adegbenle, Emmanuel Emenike Street, Gbenga Ademulagun, Hawau Abikan, Ibukun Oluwa Awosika, James Orugbo Close, Jide Agbalaya, Udeco Medical Road, Williams Onoh, among others, Chevy View Estate had organized itself in the very best of ways, tasking responsive residents, who have willingly parted with huge sums of money for the projects that government has blatantly refused to execute. The overbearing weight of this burden has now necessitated the clarion call to the government of Lagos State to come to their immediate aid.

Speaking to journalist during a tour of the facilities on the estate to examine the amount as well as inspect the extent of jobs so far executed, the chairman of the Chevy View Estate Residents’ Association, Mr. Chris Onyekwere, lamented the neglect the estate has suffered over the years, saying the residents have practically become their own government; ‘providing electricity, water, road and the most ambitious of them all, construction of a drainage-canal system for themselves without government assistance in as much deputations have been made to the seat of government at Alausa, asking for assistance, but all to no avail.

“We have written to the government, sent delegates and done everything legally possible to get the government to be involved in this project, but all over pleas have fallen on deaf ears. As at today, if not for where they government of former Governor Babatunde Fashola stopped the canal construction, long before he left office, nothing else has been heard about it,” he said.

Hameed Kasumu Street, Chevy View Estate, Lagos

Adding to his narrative, the Financial Secretary, Mr. Kayode Awolu, said that since they are the ones that live there, they took it upon themselves to do something at least to safeguard the lives of their young ones and family from the flood, which when it rains, reaches waist length, damaging property and affecting lives. He stressed that at the moment, a contract of N64, 000, 000 has been awarded for the canal construction which cuts through Williams Onoh through to Udeco Medical Road.

“The quest to protect our families has made us engage a contractor at the rate of N64, 000, 000 for the construction of the canal so that the water of the flood could be properly channeled. It is not only about the canal, the interlock stone roads which we have already done, have been excavated and destroyed for the canal. The same will be rebuilt afterwards, and explains the high cost of the project. Right now, we have exhausted what we have, and the residents have been stretched to the limit and they can bear no more. This is why we are calling on the good government of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to extend his searchlight to Chevy View Estate. We have suffered enough,” he said.

In less than one year, the estate has financially committed to diverse projects as follows:

  • Dr Udo Ugo road Project –  N7,406,887.50
  • Hammed Kasumu culvert  project – N 19,945,300
  • Hammed Kasumu road project – so far is N5,940, 000 (on going)
  • Udeco Medical road project – N33,700,141,65
  • Udeco Medical drainage system – N15,767,100
  • William Onoh drainage system with contract value of N64, 000,000 (ongoing)

The ongoing construction of William Onoh Street canal

It is worthy of note that all monies were contributed by residents. The plight of Chevy View Estate residents is a classic example of the insincerity of developers who do next to nothing as regards the development of sites before they are sold to unsuspecting residents. Chevy View was obviously not properly developed before the buildings were sold to the present owners. They therefore inherited the irresponsibility of the developer, who connived with only God knows who to get the site certified and habitable. Government, through its Ministry of Urban Development, should therefore, be more thorough in its investigation of amenities before approving any estate fit for selling or habitable.

While the estate laments the ravaging flood, they also noted that ‘for a very long time’, the estate has not experience power from the Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC). Consequently, residents live on generators, buying fuel at exorbitant prices on a daily basis.

A woman, who craved anonymity lamented that her household has lived on generator for years on end, wasting income on fuel and repairs and maintenance of generators, stressing that the authorities still come around to collect levies.

“We have not used power from the distribution company for a very long time, and our income has been practically wasted on fuel and generator maintenance and repairs. This is not fair on any of us. Government should take pity on us and come to our aid,” she said.

However, efforts have been put in to provide electricity to the estate by the residents as two transformers have already been procured.

The canal

Hear Mr. Onyekwere: “The need to get connected to the main power grid has made us procure our own transformers after efforts made to get IKEDC give us one was constantly truncated. Today, we have procured two, and as it is now, we can’t install them because we have run out of money, and don’t have the moral justification to run back to the residents for more contributions. Honestly, they have contributed so much. That is the reason we are practically pleading with the government to come to our aid and help us to install the transformers we have painstakingly procured,” he said.

Lying dejected at a corner, the 200 and 300 KVA transformers, pathetically begged to be used. TheBoss investigations reveal that the transformers would have been in use by now if not for the mind boggling amount the IKEDC was allegedly demanding before they could perform their legitimate duties.

While refusing to disclose the amount the IKEDC was demanding, Mr. Awolu hinted that the worse or most frustrating part of the whole saga remains the fact that the residents are loyal and faithful taxpayers.

Udeco Medical Road

“Here, we pay our taxes religiously, as well as other bills of whatever name. it is therefore, not known why a government that claims to have the interest of all the citizens at heart treat us this way. We need urgent assistance. The government should help us prevail on IKEDC to install our transformers; charging us the kind of money they are mentioning is pure extortion,” he said.

Harping on the fraud prevalent in IKEDC and installation of transformers, a resident told the Boss that the IKEDC was in the habit of inviting their own contractors with whom they conspire, coming out with outrageous bills, with the primary purpose of extorting the residents, who are already bent backwards from the excess weight of financial burden.

“This is insensitivity,” the resident spat.

Cross Section of Chevy View Estate Residents

On installation of the transformers on their own, the Chairman said they would have attempted to do if not for what IKEDC may do on the realization that the transformers have been installed without them. He said they possibility of the transformers being blown up was strong.

Water is another crisis the estate is facing. There is no source of drinking water, and residents source their water through contractors, and each family spends between N8,000 and N10, 000 on a weekly basis for water.

However, the management committee of the estate confided in TheBoss that efforts are being made to construct a water supply facility in the estate, saying that government is highly required.

It must be noted that while Governor Ambode is making every effort to create a Lagos of everyone’s dream, some officials in various ministries and parastatals are frustrating the effort with extortive tendencies.

Time is now for someone to take a cursory look at the plight of Chevy View Estate residents in terms of flooding, electricity, road and water.

Time is now for Ambode to remember residents of Chevy View Estate, who include Super Eagles footballer, Emmanuel Emenike, singing sensation, Phyno and Waje, Nollywood actors, Segun Arinze and Funke Akindele (Jenifa), Ace OAP, Frank Edoho and others who have sacrificed a lot in helping Lagos become the smart city it craves.

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Military Releases Pictures, Names of Soldiers Killed in Delta Community

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The Defence Headquarters has released the list of 17 military personnel killed in an attack in Delta State. 

The military personnel were killed last week in Okuama, a community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State after a peace mission.

Days after the gruesome murder, the Defence Headquarters said 17 personnel including the Commanding Officer of 181 Amphibious Battalion, two majors,  one captain, and 12 personnel of the battalion.

“May The Souls of the Departed Rest In Peace,” the Nigerian Army wrote on its X handle alongside a photo collage of the personnel on Monday evening.

The Defence Headquarters gave the names of those killed as:

– Lt Col AH Ali, the Command Officer, 181 Amphibious Battalion, Nigerian Army.

– Maj SD Shafa (N/13976)

– Maj DE Obi (N/14395)

– Capt U Zakari (N/16348)

– SSgt Yahaya Saidu (#3NA/36/2974)

– Cpl Yahaya Danbaba (1ONA/65/7274)

– Col Kabiru Bashir (11NA/66/9853)

– LCol Bulus Haruna (16NA/TS/5844)

– Lal Sole Opeyemi (17NA/760719)

– LCpl Bello Anas (17NA/76/290)

– LCpl Hamman Peter (NA/T82653)

– LCpl Ibrahim Abdullahi (18NA/77/1191)

– Pte Alhaji Isah (17NA/76/6079)

– Pte Clement Francis (19NA/78/0911)

– Pte Abubakar Ali (19NA/78/2162)

– Pte Ibrahim Adamu (19NA/78/6079)

– Pte Adamu Ibrahim (21NA/80/4795).

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Glo 1 Cable is the King of Telecoms

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By Eric Elezuo

Available data and recent happenings have proved that it is not by coincidence that leading telecommunications company, Globacom, is the market leader, not only in provision of telecom services, but in being proactive to foresee future occurrences. This is exemplified in its ability to remain running even as acclaimed major networks have temporarily packed up as a result of the main one cable malfunction a few days ago in Nigeria, and some African countries.

Globacom’s Glo 1 submarine cable has literally remained the only hope for internet users covering both banking and browsing usages.

The GLO-1 (Globacom-1) submarine communications cable, which came on board in 2009, is a cable system along the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and the UK, owned by Nigerian telecoms operator Globacom, under the dynamic leadership of Africa’s pride, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr.

The submarine cable system is 9,800 km long, and became operational in 2011 with a minimum capacity of 640 Gbit/s.

A project of Globacom, Nigeria’s 2nd largest telecoms provider, total capacity of the system is now advertised as 2.5 Tbit/s. The cable’s link to Ghana was turned up in April, 2011, meaning that Ghana subscribers are part of the millions still enjoying uninterrupted network experience, the failure of main one, notwithstanding.

It would be recalled that massive internet outages was reported in Nigeria following damage to international undersea cables supplying the country with connectivity.

But Glo was not affected, a testimonial that Nigeria should celebrate the brand as against other networks that buckled under the weight of the underwater cable failure, the humongous money they are making from Nigerians notwithstanding. Those also goes to show that they don’t believe in the country.

Reports show that telecommunications companies and a number of banks which rely on the affected cables for internet services were affected by the outage, and will continue to be partially or completely out of service for the next five weeks if reports emanating from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is anything to go by.

According to reports, the damage affected major undersea cables near Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and has led to internet downtime across West and South African countries.

The undersea cables affected are the West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3.

However, Glo 1, owned by Nigeria’s leading digital services company, Globacom, was not affected by the damage and has continued to operate normally. Data users, internet service providers and financial institutions which run on Glo 1 have continued to operate normally.

Industry analysts believe the sturdy nature and resilience of Glo 1 International Submarine Cable is the reason the damage did not affect the cable.

It would be recalled that the Glo submarine cable system Glo 1, made a historic landing in Alfa Beach, Lagos, Nigeria, in 2009. The landing marked the beginning of cheap bandwidth which in itself translated into many possibilities in the Information and Communications sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The project jointly executed by Globacom and its partners, Alcatel Lucent gave and continues  to give Nigeria lead in telemedicine, eCommerce and egovernance among other practices that transform economies.

Then, the Executive Director, Human Resources, Mr Adewale Shangowawa, noted that with the landing of the Glo1 submarine cable, Globacom has scored another first and as well has taken a bold step to give Nigeria the lead in the magical broadband revolution in Africa.

The 9800km cable from Bude in UK, connects Nigeria to the rest of West Africa and the UK. It has landing points in Nigeria, London and Lisbon in Portugal. It is deploying 16 branching units to connect countries in West Africa.

The ED added that globally, the tradition is for a consortium of telecommunication companies to team up to set up a submarine cable network to enhance their connectivity and bandwidth capacity. Globacom became an exception to the norm.

Glo is the first single telecommunication company in the world to own its submarine cable. The high capacity Glo 1 optic fibre cable brought functional direct connectivity between West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world. The 9,800 km long cable provided huge capacity on its 2-fibre pair system. The Glo 1 cable also made available excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to the cable.

This will translate into much faster and more robust connectivity for voice, data and video. The cable will connect 14 West African countries through the branching units to the rest of the world. It will boost economic activities in the region, create job opportunities and serve companies in Europe and Africa.

Facts of the submarine cable landing included that Glo 1 provides connectivity from Lagos to Bude in United Kingdom through fibre optic cable laid undersea.

The cable which is of the 32 STM 64 type has virtual infinite capacity and therefore offers sufficient capacity for traffic for the Globacom’s mobile, fixed, and internet telecommunication services.

Last September, the $250 million Glo-1 cable system landed initially in Lagos and in Accra in Ghana. With 2.5 Tbps of capacity, the Glo-1 cable has been ready for commissioning since July 2010.

Mike Adenuga Jr., Globacom’s chairman, while describing the $250 million project, said the Glo-1 cable will provide Nigerian user’s two benefits: become part of the competitive telecom landscape and make broadband access and long-distance voice service more affordable.

As a company with unparalleled vision, and proactive initiatives, Glo in 2018, and in a bid to boost its data services and remain preferred data services provider with clarity and reach, commenced upgrading its undersea cable, Glo 1 capacity by 100G.

Bisi Koleoso, a deputy chief operating officer, Technical, then, which explaining the process said that, in addition the company as well is investing in equipment for more path redundancy for the Glo 1 in case of fiber cut. In 2024, fibre cut occurred, and Glo is still up and running.

“As the innovation leader in Nigeria’s telecom space, Globacom is committed to ensuring that Nigerians were not left behind in the march to a digitalised world.

“We have invested massively in new technologies to introduce these products which we believe will redefine business, social and personal pursuits,” the DCO had said.

The visionary company did not stop there however. Consequently, on April 8, 2011, it followed up the launch of the sub-marine optical fibre cable, Glo I Submarine Cable, which gulped a whopping $800 million, thereby making it the first telecommunication company to build such a high-capacity optic fibre from the United Kingdom to Nigeria with the rolling out of the Glo 2 submarine cable. The submarine optic fibre cables was designed to connect Lagos directly to Southern parts of Nigeria.

The submarine cables was programmed to “contain three fiber pairs. Fiber Pair 1 (Express) will connect Lagos directly to Southern part of Nigeria with terrestrial extension to existing terrestrial backbone.

“Fiber Pair, also known as Omnibus 1, has eight branching units to offshore oil stations and communities. Fiber Pair 3, otherwise called Omnibus 2, contains two switchable branching units southward Africa.”

The Glo II Submarine Cable would boost overall socio-economic development of the Niger Delta, and offer greater bandwidth for local ICT business to flourish and provide backup for the terrestrial fibre route from Port Harcourt to Lagos.

The company further explained that Glo 2 will equally be much more reliable as far as fibre cut is concerned, assuring that Globacom “has put in place workable plans to scale up the network for the future and innovation in products.

A statement on the effect, read in part: “We plan to initiate new data analytic tools to capture subscribers’ experience in real time and also take pre-emptive actions to improve the network. Also new sites would be rolled out into rural areas, banishing digital divide between cities and villages….to increase capacity by giving a congestion-free network and superior quality in voice data. We also plan to swap old equipment in other states with better quality ones, so that our subscribers can have better services.”

Glo’s invincibility in the telecommunication world is nothing short of insightful leadership, clear cut vision and the passion to put customers first in all its undertakings. This is not forgetting that it has done everything to project Nigeria’s ingenuity in the field of telecommunication,  and by extention other fields.

Glo is flourishing under the leadership of the spirit of Africa, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., and the Executive Vice Chairman, Mrs Bella Adenuga-Disu.

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Glo Unveils Korrect Predict Lottery Service, Rewards Subscribers with Cash, Airtime

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A new product, Glo Korrect Predict Lottery has been unveiled by telecommunications services provider, Globacom. Under the new service, any sports lover on Glo network who successfully predicts the final outcomes of football matches played across the world will be rewarded with fantastic cash prizes and free airtime.

“Sports Prediction Market has witnessed significant growth over the years, with a projected value of over $155 billion globally by 2024 and that, the growth is driven by the proliferation of smartphones, increase in online betting platforms, as well as increased sports viewership and adoption of technology”, Globacom said in a statement In Lagos.

This trend, the company explained underscored the unveiling of the new service Korrect Predict lottery, which it said, will give subscribers the opportunity to win cash gifts from predicting match results accurately.

According to Globacom “Subscribers will receive 2 football matches daily for them to predict the correct scores after which those who accurately predict the outcomes of their preferred matches will win amazing prizes from Glo”.

To subscribe to Korrect Predict, you will either dial the USSD Command *7023# or send the keyword “KPRD” to the shortcode “7023” to subscribe to the daily plan costing just N50 or send the keyword “KPW” to the shortcode “7023” to subscribe to the weekly plan of N150. Upon successful subscription, you will receive an SMS with a link to access the service”.

For the first active subscription when they select any of the daily, or weekly auto-renewal plan, Glo said subscribers will enjoy free trial, adding that “This means that a new subscriber can activate the service at no cost for the first twenty-four hours, after which he or she will then be charged for the next renewal cycle. Subscribers who do not want to be charged after the free trial and buy offer will have to cancel their service renewal before the twenty-four hours elapse by dialing the USSD command for deactivation”.

Glo Korrect Predict provides access to two daily predictions on football matches across Africa, Asian, American and European Leagues including Asian League, English Premiership, Italian Serie A,Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1 and Portugese Primeira Liga and it can be accessed by all Glo subscribers via SMS, USSD, and Web.

To subscribe to the daily plan costing just N50 subscribers will either dial the USSD Command *7023# or send the keyword “KPRD” to the shortcode “7023” or send the keyword “KPW” to the shortcode “7023” to subscribe to the weekly plan of N150. An SMS with a link to access the service will be sent to the subscribers upon successful subscription.

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