Woobs, Army provide homes for 80 families at Arena Quarters

A public private partnership (PPP) initiative between Woobs Resources Limited and the Nigerian Army recently yielded impressive result with the building of 80 units of two-bedroom bungalows, offering homes for families of 80 soldiers in the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army.

Woobs Resources Limited and the Nigerian Army had sometime in the past entered into a contractual agreement in which Woobs was to provide residential accommodation for the soldiers along with the development of an ultra-modern market, now called The Arena Market, on a parcel of land that hitherto served as the Army Mammy Market in Oshodi.

Woobs Resources is a wholly indigenous private company with the main objective of carrying out the business of building and property development, specialising in market development. It designed and built The Arena Market under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangement with the Army and is currently managing the market facility which is situated at Bolade Oshodi along Agege Motor Road, Lagos.

In his welcome address at the commissioning of the 80 bungalows, named Arena Quarters, which was performed by the Chief of Army Staff, Azubuike Ihejirika, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ikeja, Lagos, Abel Obi Umahi, thanked Woobs Resources for building the quarters for the soldiers.

Umahi recalled how the project started, stating: “This project is a product of a contractual agreement between the Nigerian Army and Woobs Resources Limited. Woobs started the construction of this project up to roofing level but at a time they could not continue. In 2012, the Chief of Army Staff directed that the project should be completed. It was at this point that the Chief of Army Staff released the sum of N30 million with which the project was brought to the stage where we see it today.”

In his response, the Chief of Army Staff assured the soldiers that he would do everything that needed to be done in the quarters to make it comfortable. “We want the quarters to be occupied immediately to avoid further dilapidation,” he advised, reassuring all serving army officers that their welfare was part of the priority of the Federal Government.

In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, the general manager, Marketing, Business Development & Communications, Edith Ndidi Nwanerih, representing Whoba Ogo, the chief executive of Woobs Resources, explained that her company could not complete the quarters because of the financial recession at the time which badly affected the banks that funded the project, until the Chief of Army Staff intervened with N30 million.

The representative of Woobs Resources thanked the Chief of Army Staff in a special way for his quick intervention as well as all the officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army in general, and the Brigade Commander of 9 Brigade, Ikeja Cantonment in particular, for partnering with the company in developing and transforming the former Army Mammy Market to the new ultra-modern shopping complex now called The Arena, which is a beautiful product with great investment potentials.