OceanBay Estate Residents cry out after Octo 5 holds them Hostage by frustruating efforts to connect to national grid.

Not long after the Megamound Estate debacle, residents of OceanBay Estate on Orchid Road in Lekki protested in the pouring rain on Monday morning to protest the latest in the ridiculous state of services provided by the Estate facility manager Octo5 Utilities Limited.
The residents have been enduring the terrible state of services for the past 5 months; including getting only 6 hours of light per day after being disconnected from the national grid for the past 17 months. All this despite paying premium prices for services.
Octo5 Utilities’ unilaterally increased the cost of power to N270 per unit overnight and doubled the cost of water without regard for the residents just because residents insisted on being reconnected to the national grid.

The service provider, which is a subsidiary of Octo5 Holdings owned by Mr. Jide Odusolu, has also pushed forward a new proposal that demands that residents must pay a new connection fee of N250,000 per resident as well as buy a minimum of N54,000 per week to stay connected to their new “premium” power services of 15 hours per day or be disconnected. This is because residents have been insisting on getting reconnected to the national grid via EKEDC.

The estate was disconnected from the national grid 17months ago because the service Octo5 was owing EKEDC about NGN 60 million despite residents being in a pre-paid electricity arrangement. Octo5 also declined to sign a settlement agreement with EKEDC recently after both parties agree to NGN40million final settlement, insisting that EKEDC must not communicate with the End Users i.e Ocean Bay Estate Residents on any issues relating to power operations within the Estate.

The Estate residents have struggled with incessant service issues like bad drainage, poor light, brown-smelling water, invasion by wild animals, porous security, and a host of other things.

Octo5 Holdings have constantly marketed the Estate, which is on Orchid Road, as a paradise on earth with 24hrs of light, good security, water treatment, etc. but the reality is a total contrast; with the estate being in total darkness every night and services being on the brink of total collapse.

Several attempts to reason with the management of the estate have proved futile and the residents say they have no option but to recourse to protesting to make their pains felt. The Residents are demanding immediate reconnection to the National Grid and reverse of the imposed exorbitant power and water tariffs.