COVID-19 is an opportunity to serve community and support  govt—Landmark CEO

The COVID-19 pandemic, a global health emergency, has provided opportunity for individuals and corporate organizations to serve communities and support government, Paul Onwuanibe, CEO, Landmark Africa, developers of the expansive Landmark Village in Lagos, has said.

It is for that reason that  three weeks after the announcement of ongoing discussions to use a part of the Landmark Village as an  Isolation  and  Treatment  Centre  in  Eti -Osa  Local  Government,  Governor  Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last week, unveiled an 80-bed centre completed recently at the site.

The facility, a standard  centre constructed and fitted to specification, was delivered  through  a  tripartite  public  private  partnership  (PPP),  consisting  of  Landmark  Africa,  the Lagos State Government and the Young Presidents’ Association (YPO) representing various private individuals as well as corporate donors.

Governor Sanwo-Olu, at the unveiling event, commended the parties for the level of preparedness, saying, “we have taken over this facility but it will be operated in collaboration with the private sector. I am happy with the level of preparedness I have seen.”

Onwuanibe explained that Landmark’s decision to partner with the YPO and the Lagos State Government, was because “we see this as an opportunity to serve the Eti Osa community and Lagos state residents at large, given the support and patronage we have enjoyed from them over the years.”

He noted that the world was pulling together private and public  resources  to  fight the  coronavirus  pandemic  and,  as  a responsible  corporate citizen,  “it  is important for us to contribute our quota to ensure prompt treatment and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Eti Osa LGA.”

In an extensive chat with journalists about safety measures that have been implemented, the Head of Projects at Landmark Africa, Enyinna Okorafor, assured that the centre was physically isolated from other facilities and operations within the Landmark Village.

“We  must  make  it  clear  that  the  Isolation  and  Treatment  Centre  is  a  physically  independent  and completely isolated operation within Landmark. Regular visitors to Landmark will have absolutely no interaction with the Centre or its activities.

“Our partners, tenants, visitors, neighbours and the larger community are able to carry out their normal activities, both inside and outside our premises, with ease once the lockdown directive has been reversed. Together with the YPO, NCDC and the Lagos State government, there are also stringent and WHO-approved decontamination measures in place both now and once the Centre is de-commissioned,” said Okorafor.

He  described the swift construction process that led to the prompt delivery of the Centre, stressing  that  “we  are  immensely  proud  to  have  delivered  the  facility  within  three  weeks  of commencement. With over two decades’ experience as a property services company, our detailed construction processes helped us deliver the project seamlessly and to ensure that it was ready for use within the stipulated time.”

Landmark Africa has now joined the league of events and exhibition centres across the world that has made their facilities available to support their governments in the fight against COVID-19. The  New  York  state-owned  Javits  Centre  was  converted  to  a  4,000-bed  field  hospital,  pulling together  expertise  from  more  than  15  city,  state  and  federal  agencies  in  the  United  States.

In London, the ExCel Centre is now the site of the first NHS Nightingale hospital – the first of such as part of Britain’s nationwide effort to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly,  a  1,000  bed  hospital  is  being  built  at  the  Lenexpo  Exhibition  Centre  while  the  Crocus Exhibition  Centre  will  now  be  converted  into  a  1,500 -bed  hospital  in  Russia.

In  the  United  Arab Emirates,  the  Abu  Dhabi  National  Exhibition  Centre  has  been  transformed   into  a  field hospital, providing a 1,000-bed capacity treatment centre.  “As a leading real estate and property services company in Nigeria, providing spaces for business, lifestyle and leisure,  people are at the heart of the solutions we provide.

“So, at this time when there is a call to come together to save Lagosians from, perhaps, the greatest health catastrophe in over a century, it is very important to us that we step forward boldly and confront this challenge head-on,” Okoroafor said.

Landmark  Africa  is  immensely  honoured  to  play  its  part  now  and  looks  forward  to  a  time  in  the nearest future when we all would have won this war so that we can provide even better and bigger business, leisure and lifestyle services,” said Funlola Enelemah, Chief Administrative Officer of Landmark.