The bank on the street
| credits: Eniola Akinkuotu
| credits: Eniola Akinkuotu
RESIDENTS of the Ilupeju Residential Estate have asked a new branch of Fidelity Bank Plc, which recently began operation on Coker Road, to relocate.
They also urged the Lagos State Government to reclassify the road which was recently designated as a high street.
The Ilupeju Landlords and Residents Association told PUNCH Metro that the bank opened a branch there because Coker Road was designated as a high street.
They explained that by the new designation and the presence of the bank, Coker Road would become commercialised, too busy and crime-prone.
One of the landlords, Dr. Folashodun Shonubi, who has been living in the area for almost 40 years, said the community had been at loggerheads with the bank since 2009.
He said, “In 2009, we noticed that a house opposite the roundabout was being modified. When we investigated, we found out that it was a bank, so the residents opposed it. We opposed it because that place is a roundabout and the bank’s presence will worsen traffic congestion as there is a school on that road that is already causing a traffic snarl.
“Another reason we are against the bank’s presence is because of security challenge. We are scared of residents becoming casualties and the presence of a 24-hour ATM service there will make the area unsafe at night.
“We reported the matter to the state physical planning authorities and they waded in. The bank was subsequently prevented from opening a branch there and it remained like that for about four years.”
Shonubi said the building remained unused throughout the period, adding that towards the end of 2013, the residents learnt that the bank was planning to open.
He said in the first week of January, 2014, a signboard was erected signifying that the bank was open for business.
He said residents approached the bank authorities and urged them to reconsider their position and use the building for any other purpose, but the bank refused.
He said the residents, led by a former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande; held a meeting with senior officials of the bank.
Shonubi said, “At the meeting, we were informed by the bank that they had been given approval by the state government in 2013 to open the branch as Coker Road had been designated a high street. We were shocked because the residents were not informed about the decision.”
A veteran journalist with the defunct Daily Times, Mr. Henry Odukomaiya, who has been living in the area since 1974, said the government was not sticking to the original plan of the area.
“I have been living here for almost 40 years and the designation given to this area by the then town planning authority is residential, while the other part of Ilupeju is known as the Industrial Estate, which is where banks are meant to be situated.
“Siting the bank there is out of place because this place should be purely residential. There are a few companies here which we have tolerated, but a bank that attracts robbers and strange faces to our neighbourhood is not welcome. What happens when there is a robbery and policemen engage them in a shootout?
“The danger of allowing that bank to remain there is that it will encourage other banks to follow suit. Soon, some greedy landlords could sell of their property to give room for more banks to open here, posing a greater security challenge.”
A landlady, Mrs. Wuraola Akintobi, who has been living in the area since 1976, told PUNCH Metro that the area was meant to be purely residential and wondered why the state government would alter the plan of the estate.
Akintobi said she had witnessed armed robbery in front of a bank in the neighbouring community and urged the state government not to put their lives in danger in the name of commercialisation.
“Not too long ago, I witnessed an armed robbery operation in front of a bank in the Ilupeju Industrial Estate where we had gone to hold a fellowship. The robbery occurred in broad daylight. We don’t want such in our estate,” she said.
A retired judge in his 90s, Justice Isiaka Oluwa, whose house shares a fence with the new bank, said the plan was ill-conceived.
Oluwa said the bank had made a bad first impression by inconveniencing the residents.
The residents said they wanted nothing from the bank other than to relocate.
In his reaction, the Public Relations Officer of the bank, Henry Ndiolo, told our correspondent that the bank had the legal right to be there.
He said the bank had promised the residents constant security and the benefits of Corporate Social Responsibility.
“Opening a bank there is in the best interest of the residents. We have held series of meeting with them and we have promised them CSR and have also promised to collaborate with other banks in Ilupeju to ensure that there is good security.
“We even promised to use our generators to provide electricity for them. We have the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Lagos State Government to be there.”
All attempts to reach the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde, proved abortive as his telephone indicated that it was switched off.
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