From Magnus Eze, Enugu
The Enugu State government has insisted that the Liberty Centre, a business arena inside Liberty Estate located in the highbrow area of Independence Layout, Enugu, remains the property of the state.
There were speculations that the occupants of the facility were ejected because a certain influential person in the state bought the property.
But Managing Director of Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, (ESHDC), Chuks Agu explained that the recent recovery of the facility by his agency was for it to be redesigned and put to optimal use.
According to him, the corporation was inundated with petitions by the residents of the estate on the misuses and abuse of the centre, adding that the residents, which are mainly constituted by people in the upper class of the society, also complained about the security threat posed by the misuse of the centre.
Agu gave an instance of a petition submitted by the Chairman of the Liberty Estate Residents Association, Goddy Madueke, an engineer, where he highlighted the problems of the Rangers training pitch and the overall security threat as a result of continuous flouting of the order that made the training pitch an exclusive preserve of Rangers Football Club of Enugu.
The residents complained that the Liberty Estate has gone out of control that some homeowners are now living in regrets with respect to their huge investment in the estate as the value of their homes have continued to plummet under their watch.
“The neighborhood park has been converted to a drinking and smoking park. Teenage boys and girls always gather until late hours of the night; in the morning, cans, bottles of beer and condoms have been sighted at the park.
On a number of cases, residents have made attempts to disperse them but they reconvened later.
“The centre has become a nuisance to the neighborhood. Teenagers converge at the centre to drink and smoke hemp at any time of the day and late at nights. When confronted by a resident, they stated that owner said they could smoke if they want.
