Lagos Assembly Wades Into Royal Gardens Estate, EKEDC Dispute

The Lagos State House of Assembly has stepped into the protracted situation betwixt residents of Royal Gardens Estate, Ajah, and the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), pursuing a petition by the Royal Gardens Residents’ Association (RGERA).

In a missive signed by the clerk of the House, B. Onafeko, the Assembly’s Committee connected Housing invited RGERA representatives to a gathering scheduled for Tuesday, September 23, astatine the Assembly Complex successful Alausa, Ikeja.

The league is expected to bring each acrophobic parties to the array for deliberations connected the lingering energy and governance disputes.

The crisis, which has rocked the once-model property for implicit a year, escalated aft EKEDC disconnected the assemblage from the nationalist grid connected May 26, 2024. Residents person since been forced to trust connected diesel generators and star alternatives.

At the bosom of the quality is the arguable bulk metering strategy imposed connected the estate, which residents said violates the Electricity Act of 2023.

Under the bulk metering arrangement, the property is billed collectively, leaving idiosyncratic residents powerless to reconcile their ain vigor payments with EKEDC.

Despite EKEDC’s stated willingness to power to nonstop metering, the estate’s developer, Trojan Estates, has resisted the change, fueling allegations of manipulation and maltreatment of authority.

Beyond electricity, residents impeach the developer of undermining antiauthoritarian governance successful the estate, imposing decisions without consultation, stifling the residents’ relation and interfering successful assemblage projects. Complaints of indiscriminate work charges, powerfulness disconnections contempt valid payments, and nonaccomplishment to negociate sanitation person deepened tensions.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had earlier attempted to mediate but faced setbacks aft Trojan Estates repeatedly failed to be hearings, alternatively filing a suit challenging NERC’s authority. The case, brought nether Solar Gardens Project Ltd, is presently earlier Justice D.I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

With the Assembly present involved, residents are hopeful that lawmakers volition guarantee compliance with the law, support their rights and reconstruct bid to the troubled estate.