TheCable

The management of Lekki Gardens has commiserated with victims of the building collapse that led to the death of 34 persons.

Praising the “faith” displayed in it by its customers despite the tragedy, the company said it had been cooperating with the government and other relevant authorities regarding the incident.

Explaining its effort to minimise the effect of the tragedy, Lekki Gardens said prompt response from rescue agencies helped 13 people survive the tragedy. It also expressed its commitment to preventing future recurrences.

“On the 8th of March 2016, a sad tragedy befell our organisation, the Lekki community, Lagos state and the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which led to unfortunate deaths,” the statement read.

“Due to the prompt response of the Lagos State Emergency Authority (LASEMA), the Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), Red Cross, National Emergency Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), 13 people survived the disaster.

“We are committed to making sure that this kind of tragedy does not fall upon anyone within and outside our project areas. Our customers have shown great faith in us and we are keen to protect their interests in any way that we can. We are in regular contact with those affected and further rehabilitative efforts have already been provided.

“We are also taking steps to ensure that contractors assigned to building projects obtain insurance policies for temporary staff who work on our projects. To ensure that further mishaps do not occur, we are working closely with relevant authorities.

“We believe strongly in our contractors and they have proved their capabilities in times past. In light of this unfortunate occurrence, it is important to re-evaluate our contractors and the respective project teams.

“We are taking steps to perform independent checks on all customers’ houses even as we await the partnership of relevant authorities to conduct their own checks. We acknowledge that our success as a company depends on the safety of our customers’ investments and we shall continually strive to keep our customers happy by ensuring a good return on their investments. At this point, we seek the cooperation and unflinching support of our customers.

“Over the past four years, we have been able to create thousands of jobs across our various projects.  It is our intention to protect these existing jobs, support the welfare of our employees and further create more jobs in the nearest future as our contribution to the economy. This has always been our mantra – to improve lives.”