Thousands of jobs at risk if Lekki toll gate is not reopened – LCC

The Lekki Concession Company (LCC) has over 500 direct staff and thousands of others across its business value chain would lose their jobs if the Lekki Toll Plaza  is not reopened to full operations within the shortest time possible.

Speaking at a press conference at its head office, LCC Managing Director, Yomi Omomuwasan, explained that the firm had refrained from commenting since the unfortunate event of October 20, 2020, because it realised that “tempers were high, and truth had become a major casualty.”

The MD, who empathised with individuals and businesses that suffered losses, said that as a peace-loving organisation and also an institutional victim, it was distressed that more protests would hold at the Toll Plaza.

He explained that the LCC approached the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to return the Tollgate to it in good faith and stem its losses.

Omomuwasan said: “To set the records straight, LCC never prevented the protesting Nigerian youths from occupying our plaza before the unfortunate incident of Tuesday, October 20, 2020, even as we incurred huge losses from the forced closure of the facility by the protesters who chose to make our facility their protest ground.

“It was in a bid to halt further losses, especially given our subsisting financial commitments to local and foreign lenders, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), that we approached the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry for permission to repossess our facilities.”

He added that the LCC requested the Toll gate’s return to evaluate the damages, process insurance claims, and rebuild the burnt facilities before the commencement of operations to continue to fulfil its loan repayment and other financial obligations.

Omomuwasan, who appealed to well-meaning Nigerians from across the divide to sheath their swords and give peace a chance, said the LCC, is “also a victim of the unfortunate circumstance, as valuable assets were burnt.”

LCC, he reiterated, “had nothing to do with the protest against police brutality, which was the central point of the youth agitation. As an organisation, we were unlucky to have been caught in the web. ”

He said that the LCC, incorporated as a special purpose vehicle to build, operate and maintain the Eti-Osa Lekki Toll Road under a 30-year concession, is the first successful PPP intervention in road infrastructure in Nigeria.

“We appeal to the leaders of the protest movement to cooperate with us as we gradually restore and commence operations. To every sored heart and scared body, we at LCC ask for divine comfort and speedy healing. As we grieve together, let us find warmth in the embrace of one another with a common resolve to rebuild a better Lagos upon the ashes of our yesterday,” he said.