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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

Published

5 years ago

May 29, 2018

Eric

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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Mambilla, Obasanjo & the Scapegoat Mentality

Published

1 day ago

September 23, 2023

Eric

By Dr Olu Agunloye

PREAMBLE

In August 2022, Mr Simon Kolawole first released his widely circulated contract-statement: “Who will Love this Country?” as front page of the ThisDay Newspapers of 21 August 2022 and again in August 2023, acting on the instructions of a former Minister of Power. The contract-statement is misleading, false, and malicious. It is calculated to divert attention from the wrongdoings of some former Power Ministers and other Government officials in respect the Mambilla Power Project. In 2022, I ignored the write-up but now that the former President has reacted to the same article that he appeared not to have seen in 2022, I will give a measured response.

THE CABLE NEWS STORY
The Cable News story credited to Pa Obasanjo about the Mambilla Power Project gave me much concern not because they were incorrect, but because they were attributed to our Baba Agbalagba, broadly revered in Yorubaland and a former President of Nigeria. For me, as a thoroughbred Omoluabi of Yorubaland, I can only politely say with all due respect: Baba, ko ri be, sa. (meaning, Baba, that is not correct, sir). That’s so much response to our revered Baba Agbalagba.

But to Pa Obasanjo as the former president, I will give fuller response here, albeit politely and in a measured dose. I served under this great former President for four years (1999 – 2003) first, as Special Assistant to the Minister of Power and Steel, then to the Minister of Justice and Honourable Attorney General of the Federation (Uncle Bola Ige) and later, as Honourable Minister of Defence (Navy), then Honourable Minister of Power and Steel. I also worked closely under him from 2003 to 2007 as the Head of the National eGovernment Strategies, mainstreaming e-enabled techniques, and applications to tiers of Government at the Federal and State levels.

Let me start by reacting to Pa Obasanjo as former President who told the story to The Cable News of how a shrewd Animal Farm Manager General (AFMG) set an elaborate system in the farm under his watch to ensure that only rats, mice, and small rodents could wander past the robust farm fence, but rabbits, antelopes, and other bigger animals needed the AFMG to open special gates for them to go out. The story explained how the AFMG ran the farm with iron hands for eight years that all and sundry applauded him. Then, after twenty years, the AFMG realised that six big elephants had, without his knowing, passed through the rodent holes that he installed to block bigger animals. Pa Obasanjo also narrated how the AFMG, now in his retirement, became furious and desperately wished he had found out this negligence during his stewardship so that he could sack the Farm Assistant who let elephants escape through the rodent holes. I felt disappointed and ashamed to find that the Animal Farm Manager General was, indeed, our most revered Baba Agbalagba, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former President himself. I still wonder if The Cable News reported him correctly.

In fact, I wish to say with all humility and respect that all the things credited to the former President in the extensive interview in The Cable News are not correct. Take for instance, The Cable News quoted Pa Obasanjo as saying: “…When I was in office, Leno Adesanya, the promoter of Sunrise Power, ran away from Nigeria. I would have jailed him.” This is far from being correct because Mr. Leno Adesanya was virtually always in the Aso Rock Villa during Chief Obasanjo’s presidency. As a matter of fact, the same president and Mr. Adesanya sat together on the high table in Aso Rock as Baba Oko and Baba Iyawo respectively at the wedding of the president’s son and Mr. Adesanya’s niece in 2002.

THE TRUTH ABOUT MAMBILLA
Let me briefly put the records straight on the Mambilla Power Project.
1. When the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, sent an emissary, in person of his close young associate who is a Labour Party (LP) Chieftain to me on 26 August 2023 to discuss the Mambilla Power Project, I knew the former president was getting pretty anxious. My last encounter with the former President was in late last year, 2022 and early this year (2023) when the former President was frantically persuading leaders of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), of which I am the National Secretary, to team up with and support the then Presidential Candidate Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP). We declined and turned down the entreaties of former President Olusegun Obasanjo on behalf of the Labour Party, LP.
2. Seven days later, on the 3 September 2023, The Cable News reported an extensive interview, https://www.thecable.ng/obasanjo-i-knew-buhari-didnt-understand-economics-but-didnt-know-he-was-a-reckless-spender/amp, granted by the former President titled: “I knew Buhari didn’t understand economics but didn’t know he was so reckless.” In this interview, the former president made misleading and incorrect statements on the Mambilla Power Project.
3. I have submitted a 53 paragraph, 14-page Statement backed with 15 Attachments in 82-page document as an affidavit to the courts in Nigeria and France in respect of the Mambilla Power Project to clear my name. In deference to Pa Obasanjo and as a mark of great respect to the former President, I have sent a copy of these documents through my lawyers to him to refreshen his memory.
4. The former president was not correct when he referred to the award to Sunrise simply as a $6 billion contract (that is, N800 billion in 2003) under his watch. In truth, it was a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) contract in which the FGN did not need to pay any amount to the contractor, Messrs Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited (Sunrise). As a matter of fact, Sunrise has not been paid a single Naira or Dollar by the FGN from 2000 till date (14/9/23). Sunrise was to source for funds and execute the project with own funds. The investment of Sunrise to construct the Mambilla hydroelectric project up to completion stage to deliver electricity was adjudged at a maximum of $6 billion by four Ministers of Power and the former president (Chief Obasanjo) before I became Minister of Power. Sunrise was to recoup his investment from the sale of the generated electricity over a 30- to 40-year period at pre-determined tariffs, also agreed with FGN before May 2003.
5. I followed due process and got all necessary approvals for the BOT contract award to Sunrise on 22 May 2003 and there are records to show that the former President Obasanjo propelled the processes from the beginning in 2000 to the end in May 2003. In fact, Sunrise started Mambilla project three years before I became Minister of Power and had arranged meetings with Chinese Companies and Chinese President in China in which three Power Ministers and the then President Obasanjo attended between 2000 and 2002 before I was appointed Minister of Power. On the very day (28 Nov 2002), that I resumed office as Minister of Power, Pa Obasanjo himself, in a formal letter, handed me his presidential approval on the Sunrise proposal with an instruction that Sunrise be invited “for the final negotiations for the execution of the Mambilla Power Project.”

NO ONE QUERIED ME FOR 20 YEARS
The following played out after I had ceased to be a minister from 29 May 2003. It turned out that (a) Between 2003 to 2007, President Obasanjo was attempting to invalidate the Sunrise May 2003 BOT contract on Mambilla Project; and (b) Between 2007 to 2015, the Yar’Adua and Jonathan presidencies recognised the Mambilla Project as a BOT contract validly awarded in May 2003, cancelled the component of it awarded as a procurement contract by President Obasanjo on the 28 May 2007 at $1.46 billion, and signed a fresh agreement on the Mambilla Hydropower Project in 2012 with Sunrise and (c) Between 2015 to 2023, the then President Buhari cancelled and re-awarded the Mambilla Power Project, and was making and breaching own Agreements with Sunrise. In all of these, spanning 20 (twenty) years, none of the Presidents (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Malam Musa Yar’Adua, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan or Gen. Muhammadu Buhari) asked me or questioned me about issuing any unauthorised Mambilla contract. This is because all the Nigerian Presidents, including Chief Obasanjo, were aware that I did nothing wrong.

BOT versus PROCUREMENT CONTRACT
However, at a time after May 2003, the then President Obasanjo appeared to have changed his mind on the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) model in which the private investor would provide own funds, a path that President Obasanjo and six Ministers of Power, three Ministers of Finance, two Ministers of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, and the Debt Management Office had pursued for four years. The former President then chose to embark on a new pathway in which Nigeria would execute the Mambilla Power Project by paying from Government own funds.

The former President decided, therefore, to break the Mambilla Hydropower Project into smaller components, like civil engineering works, hydraulic works, structural works etc. with the intention to award them as separate multiple contracts as Government procurements, on cash and carry basis, for which Nigerian Government would pay mobilisation fees and make other payments in stages to contractors. When one of the contractors, which got a component of the Mambilla project awarded by President Obasanjo as $1.46 billion procurement contract, presented its request for a $400 million mobilisation fees, President Yar’Adua scrutinised the contract and cancelled it in 2008 because of proven corruption on the part of officials who served under President Obasanjo between 2003 to 2007.

THE CRUX OF THE CASE
Dr. Agunloye awarded the Mambilla Power Project as a BOT at no cost to FGN, while the former President Obasanjo started to re-award the project as multiple procurement contracts at humongous costs to FGN and with associated corrupt practices which were uncovered by succeeding Presidents.

WHO WILL LOVE NIGERIA?
I awarded Mambilla Power Project as BOT at no cost to Nigeria. Former President Obasanjo awarded one component part of the same Mambilla project for $1.46 billion as procurement contract, former President Jonathan signed a 2012 General Project Execution Agreement and former President Buhari and his then Minister of Power, Barrister Babatunde Raji Fashola awarded another component of the Mambilla Project at a whopping $5.8 billion payable by FGN in cash. The FGN awarded, re-awarded and cancelled contracts and Agreements at will and now must face the consequences at International Arbitration Courts. The result is that the Mambilla Hydropower Project has been stalled for yet another twenty years, and the former President (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) and others are feeling greatly uneasy about the consequences. This is why the Simon Kolawole’s question, “Who will Love the Country?” should have been addressed to his (Kolawole’s) sponsors, not me.

CONSPIRACY
Currently, some former and serving FGN officials are desperately attempting to “criminalise” the Mambilla Power Project by trying to make me the scapegoat with the sole aim to avoid consequent legal contractual obligations of the Government arising from breaches of agreements with Sunrise. This “criminalisation strategy” was inadvertently exposed by Mr Simon Kolawole. The Government officials are using State Apparatus to intimidate, harass and threaten me. The EFCC invited me on 16 May 2023, 20 (twenty) years after I had ceased to be Minister of Power and grilled me for over eight hours. The Investigating Officer confronted me with “issuing a contract of $6 billion to Sunrise without authority”. That was the very first time ever that anyone had questioned me about the Mambilla Power Project, and it was because of the criminalisation conspiracy by those who actually have committed against Nigeria. The EFCC threatened that they were in possession of my Bank Statements for the last 25 (twenty-five) years. I explained my innocence and made formal statements to the EFCC. I had also sent more documents and materials to the Commission and the court after. My lawyers have sued EFCC to stop harassing me and have challenged EFCC to make public my bank accounts and charged the commission to go to court if they have any case against me.

CONCLUSION
We see that as the FGN faces the resultant consequences of breaching agreements and cancelling contracts with impunity, some former and serving Government officials, perhaps including former President Obasanjo, now want to use me as a scapegoat-victim to cover up their inappropriate practices and to evade looming fines and damages at international arbitrations.

Dr. Olu Agunloye is a Former Minster of Power and Steel

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Tinubu Not First African Leader to Ring NASDAQ Closing Bell, Presidency Apologises

Published

1 day ago

September 23, 2023

Eric

The Federal Government apologised on Friday for saying that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the first African President to ring the National Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System (NASDAQ) closing bell.

Tinubu’s spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, tendered an official apology on behalf of the presidency in a statement where he said the error was regretted.

President Tinubu rang the closing bell of NASDAQ on Wednesday alongside business leaders, including the Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu.

“We inadvertently referred to President Bola Tinubu as the first African leader to ring the bell at NASDAQ on Wednesday in New York, based on the information provided by a third-party event organiser,” Ngelale said.

“We have since found out that this information was/is incorrect, as a former African leader has indeed had the privilege. This error is sincerely regretted.”

It has been revealed that a former African leader had previously rung the bell at NASDAQ, debunking the earlier claim of Tinubu’s bell-ringing, which was perceived to be a historic achievement.

They argued that in 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, while Femi Otedola’s daughter, DJ Cuppy, rang the NYSE bell in 2019.

Contrary to the claim, the former President of Tanzania, Kikwete, First Ladies and Health Ministers rang the closing bell of NASDAQ in 2011, as announced by NASDAQ in a notification to the public dated 2011 with the title, “President Kikwete of Tanzania, First Ladies and Health Ministers, and Global Health Leaders to Ring The NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell.’

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Shaibu Eats Humble Pie, Apologises to Obaseki, Says ‘I Missed My Gov’

Published

2 days ago

September 22, 2023

Eric

Call it the eating of a humble pie, and you may not be wring as the embattled Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, apologised to Governor Godwin Obaseki amid a face-off between them.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Benin City, Mr Shaibu appealed to Governor Obaseki to forgive his “mistakes” for them to continue to work together, Channels TV reported.

“I use this medium to appeal to Mr Governor, if there is anything that I don’t know that I have done, please forgive me so that we can develop our state together,” he said.

“We have just one year to go. We have been the envy of the entire country. So, Mr Governor, if there is anything you feel that I have done, please I am sorry. I need us to work together to finish well and strong,” the deputy governor added.

When asked if he had resumed at his new office, Mr Shaibu said, “We have resumed but there is still a lot of work to be done there.

“There is no problem about it. The governor has asked us to go there. Like I have always tried to prove, I am a loyal servant and nothing has changed.

“I took a personal vow to support my governor and you can see my Catholic people are here. When I took a vow with God, nothing can change it and I wish that the relationship that we had will come back in the next few days and weeks.”

Mr Shaibu also said he has been missing the governor since their rift began, and expressed hope that God will “touch the governor’s heart” to forgive him.

“I mean well. If there is any mistake I have made as a human, it is not out of wickedness because I know I’m not wicked. I have a very clean heart.”