2022 Independence Day Message from the Estate Chairman (Joe Ibidun)

Dear residents,

Welcome to the month of October and happy 62nd Independence Day to Nigeria and Nigerians.

Permit me to use this opportunity to provide a high-level update on our stewardship as we are six months into our tenure.

Electricity:

Following the increased cost of diesel and % power availability from EKEDC, we were operating 20-hours and 24-hours during weekdays and weekends respectively. Based on the improved % up time from EKEDC, the Power and Finance committee have recommended that we revert to 24-hours power supply, both weekdays and weekends, with effect from today, October 1, 2022.

As earlier communicated during one of our association meetings, we have installed timer switches on our streetlights and the lightings in common areas in the high rise. This is to ensure our lights are automatically turned ON and OFF only when required, to reduce power wastages, as relying on human intervention has not been very efficient.

We have also introduced solar flood lights and solar streetlights in some of the common areas to reduce power consumption. We’ll continue to explore where we have more opportunities and deploy as funds becomes available.

IPP

We had signed a contract with an IPP to bring in a gas fired generator using CNG (Compressed natural gas). The company, Jakovie Energy has said they would commence operation, three to four months after we sign the agreement, but we’re beginning to see a slip on their schedule, as the piling of their staging area where they plan to install their plant has not been completed, based on their project timeline. We as Exco and Power committee are currently re-evaluating our position on that contract and exploring other options. We provide update in our subsequent meetings.

Our goal is to have a reduced tariff while still maintaining 24-hours power supply.

Water Plant

Following the installation of two new stainless steel water filters and the repair of our raw water and reservoir tanks, we are ~80% done with our water plant upgrade, what we have outstanding is the overhead tank and the automation of our chemical dozing tanks. We have the materials for the overhead tank repairs, we just want a good weather window to effect the repairs. We hope to address this by November at the very latest.

We got a Laboratory company last month to come and analyze our raw and treated water samples, the summary is that there are no chloroform bacteria, and our pH is good; opportunity for us is to address the high iron content in the treated water, this is responsible for the occasional brownish coloration, and we have a schedule to flush the water system through the fire hydrant lines across the Estate. We believe the coloration and high iron content would be sorted when we effect the repairs of the overhead tank and automate the chemical dozing tanks. We have also procured our own testing kits to monitor the water quality at regular intervals.

Lazy Manager App

As much as we have enjoyed the benefits of the App to purchase token and generate access codes for visitors, we still have some challenges with the App. We’ve been in constant engagement with the developer to upgrade the App and improve on its performance, it was in the process of the recent upgrade that some residents started having issues with generating token. This is still being worked on, however, our back up plan to manually vend token is still in place.

In order to improve on the availability of the App, we had installed solar panels and inverter to keep the server running during power outages, but we still experience interruption whenever internet service provider (IPNX) or the payment gateway is down. We’ll continue to explore more options on how we can improve on the App.

Waste Management:

The Lagos State Government through LAWMA (Lagos Waste Management Authority) is in active engagement with LERSA (Lekki Estates Residents and Stakeholders Association) for us to implement waste segregation in our Estates. The intent is for us to have a waste bin for colleting recyclable wastes such as plastics, bottles, and metal containers. There is an opportunity for us to sell the recyclable wastes to LAWMA, VGC has just deployed that mode of operation and we’ll be leveraging on their experience for possible adoption in our Estate.

Security:

With the support from the security committee, we continue to manage the occasional security related issues as they come up. Few instances of guests gaining access into the estate without clearance are being addressed as they come up. The findings from such breach ranges from “familiar guest” that has visited before, new/inexperienced guards on location that is not well coordinated or distracted and on rare occasions, two guests bearing the same name showing up at the gate the same time and the wrong guest gets cleared. Pilfering has reduced significantly in the estate; the last reported case was cable theft around the high-rise area.

CCTV cameras: We are challenged with the excavations that happens from time to time in the Estate due to maintenance activities, this has severed a section of our fiber optics cable, affecting some cameras. We’re working to have this addressed and possibly use a stronger armored protection over the fiber cables.

Of recent, there is improvement on the number of guards in the Estate, this may be attributed to the upward review of the SLA that may have motivated the workers and reduced the frequency of the guards quitting their job.

Finance:

The summary of this is that we are not on negative cash flow, details of our financial performance can be found in our emails and monthly association reports.

Our financial burden will however go up any time soon as we have received requests from our various service providers such as LAWMA, Fumigation and environmental sanitation companies for an upward review of our SLA (Service Level Agreement) due to inflation. We have recently reviewed that of the security company by about 20%. Please note that this upward review is not expected to affect our service charge.

Ongoing projects & Engagement with Lekki Gardens:

We have been in touch with Lekki Gardens, formally and informally, for them to deliver on outstanding projects. At a high level, we have the following issues on the table with LG:

Elevators at Highrise: They have made some progress on the installation; they are committed to completing and handing over the elevators on or before December 2022.

Swimming pool: They have made a commitment to deliver by December 2022.

Second Overhead tank: We made a request for this and there is a commitment to provide some financial “support”, we’re still hopeful on this.

Second entrance bridge: Unfortunately, the bridge was pulled down by LASG, and we have not been successful in getting them mobilize to rebuild the bridge, we are working with LG to see how they can prevail on LASG to get the contractor mobilize and complete the bridge project. This is stalling our plan to install automated access control like we have in other Estates.

Dredging of canal behind our fence: We have raised the concern of the various dredging and sand filling activities behind us with Lekki Gardens, so they can engage the developers, we are currently at a disadvantage if we don’t dredge the back of our fence. We’ll continue our engagement with Lekki Gardens on this.

Procurement of 3ea transformers and replaced armored cables: Lekki Gardens has agreed to make an offer for the replaced transformers and aluminum armored cables. We’ll share the outcome in our next association meeting.

A lot is going on in this space that are not only time consuming but also putting a stretch on our resources. From freeing up of blockages in our sewage chambers, to replacement and upgrading of broken and blocked drainpipes. Sewage and flood control pumps were also procured and replaced where needed.

Fire Extinguishers:

Based on recommendations by safety professionals, we have been able to procure and deploy fire extinguishers to cover all high-risk and common areas across the estate. We however encourage residents to have their own personal fire extinguisher at home, as fire is best fought and brought under control at its incipient stage.

Canal cleaning:

The Lagos State Ministry of Environment had requested that we send in the pictures of our canals in the Lekki area, with the hope that there would be a mass campaign of cleaning of the drainages; since the kick-off is taking forever to execute, we have decided to award the contract to one of our vendors and the work is currently in progress as some of you may have noticed.

Road signs and numberings:

Majority of our road signs within the estate have faded and we are working with the contractor to have them replaced.

The other big one for us is to design and install the name of our Estate at the gate. We implore the architects and graphic designers in the Estate to help with a design of the Estate name that we’ll install at the entrance gate.

Painting:

This is a clarion call to all residents, particularly those with faded paints on their building to do the needful; as we approach the festive season, let us endeavor to paint our buildings and give the estate a facelift.

Finally:

Permit me to use this medium to thank all those that have been consistent in attending the association meetings and also encourage those that have not been attending to make out time and do so. We have made it a lot easier by making it virtual so anyone can connect from any part of the world.

It’s not always productive if we have to keep explaining what has already been discussed at the association meeting on telegram platform. Let’s bring in our ideas and suggestions that can help improve on our wellbeing in the estate.