Residents lament closure of liberty estate Enugu shopping complex by state government
By Our Reporter
The residents and shop owners of Shopping Center at the Liberty Estate Phase 1, Independence Layout in Enugu have expressed dismay over the closure of the shopping center in the Estate.
The Estate is managed by the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC).
The residents, who spoke anonymously wondered why the State Government decided to close the shopping center.
The shopping center also known as Liberty Center, was part of the original design of the Estate created by the Ex Gov Sullivan Chime’s administration in 2010.
It has recreational facilities including a gym, swimming pool, grocery, boutiques, hair salons and halls for residents of the Estate .
According to a resident: “Why should the Government want to demolish this beautiful center where we purchase our basic amenities.”
She said there were other offices like hotels, law offices and others in the estate and “we have never had any security breakdown in the Estate, the shopping center is the beauty of the Estate and it’s secured and clean.”
Another resident and retiree expressed disappointment that the state government would pull down the center which had served the estate in many ways.
“This is the only place I get most of my basic amenities as I can’t go out all the time to shop.
“Almost everything I need is in the shopping center with a gym, barbing salon, sit out and a supermarket, what else does one need, “the septuagenarian lamented.
Some of the tenants said they were still wondering why government decided to close the shopping center.
“We have never constituted any form of problem to the residents and whenever they complained about any issue, we quickly address it.
“We meet with the residents association occasionally to look into issues of concern.
“We are appealing to Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to please come to our aid as this is the only place we get our source of income,”.
The tenants, many of who are shop owners in the center, said they were given only 24 hours.
“From Feb. 21 to Feb. 22, 2023, being the eve and peak of elections, to vacate the premises adding that they had no other place to go to, which is unfair, ” they lamented.
According to the tenants all efforts to renew their rents have been frustrated by the Management of Enugu State Housing as they have vehemently refused to issue them demand notice to make payment for their tenancy.
“We can’t even get shops at this austere period where prices of almost everything have skyrocketed, ” one of them said..
The tenants also claimed that they had earlier been threatened with eviction.
“They had earlier threatened us with a quit notice during the peak of the COVID-19 in 2020 and we pleaded with them to enable us recover from the lockdown occasioned by the pandemic, ” they said..
Our correspondent also learned that some of the tenants who bought their own shops were also asked to vacate without any refund.
They accused the Enugu State Housing Authority of trying to favour some interest groups that are pushing tirelessly for the closure of the center at the expense of public interest.
The tenants noted that the security concerns being pushed as the reasons for the closure of the center is pure pretext as hotels and other businesses are still open to the general public.
The tenants claimed that they have their own internal security apparatus to ensure the center runs smoothly and are ever ready to synergies with Estate Security to ensure that security is not breached.
Most of the residents said they preferred setting up of Code of Conduct for tenants of the Center than outright closure of the estate to favor those who want to gain one thing or the other from the closure.
They further lamented that all efforts to appeal to their conscience to reconsider their decision has fallen on deaf ears.
