The residents, who spoke to newsmen, said the music blaring out of the loudspeakers of the hotel was disturbing the serenity of the environment in the daytime and at night, adding that efforts to get the management of the hotel to control the noise level had proved abortive.
One of the residents, Saheed Ologunro, who said he and his family members had been having sleepless nights due to the activities of the Wadbash Hotel, pleaded with the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency to come to the aid of the residents of the community.
The 61-year-old architect said, “The noise from the Wadbash Hotel had been disturbing us for a long time, but when we pleaded with the former manager, he took pity on us and usually stopped the music by 11pm. But the new manager does not want to listen to us.
“We have been to the hotel to see her, but she was not around. It was the supervisor we met and he promised to see to our complaint. But he also told us that music was part of their business, but we pleaded with him to consider the people living in the environment, because we find it difficult to sleep while they play their music.
“Even though we have pleaded with the management of the hotel, nothing has been done; the music still goes on non-stop and it is frustrating. The hotel has an open bar and whenever they play music there; all the surrounding areas are affected. I am tired and very unhappy because it is a fence that separates my house from the hotel. That is where I am staying with my wife and children, and the hotel’s activities at night disturb us a lot. Many people have parked out of the community because of the disturbance caused by the noise.
“I want the government to come and look into our problem; we want them to visit the hotel and talk to the owners and managers so that they can control, and if possible, stop the music, because they don’t consider people living around them. I have gone as far as visiting LASEPA to lodge a complaint and they promised to call us, but we have not heard from them. We are now calling on LASEPA to please come to our aid, because we are frustrated.”
Another resident, Joseph Martin, said no one was controlling the volume of music blaring from the loudspeakers of the hotel and that it had become a daily routine.
The Edo State indigene said, “As a hotel, it is understandable that their activities are always on the high side by the weekend; but in this case, the noise is an everyday routine. They only stop for an hour and play music loudly from morning till night and to the next day. At weekends, they invite life bands to play; we understand that they are running a business, but they should understand that people live here and it is unjust for them to use their activities to disturb our peace, most especially at night. Even when many patrons are not around at night, they still refuse to control the volume of music coming from the hotel.
“I took time to visit the restaurant of the hotel to eat, and after eating, I moved to the back where they play the music, and I was shocked that there was no one there controlling what was going on. I had wanted to plead with whoever I met there, but the fact that no one was there showed that the management did not care about regulating the volume of music and that is affecting us.”
Another resident, Aina Ayodeji, 48, said she had at some point abandoned her residence for her sister’s place in order to have sound sleep.
“We have other hotels around the area but they don’t operate the way the Wadbash Hotel does. At times, just because I want to have peaceful sleep, I do leave my house and go to my sister’s house to sleep.”
The Manager of the Wadbash Hotel, Joy Samuel, explained to our correspondent that music was always playing because of the festive period, adding that once the period was over, it would be restricted to weekends only.
She said, “A guy came to inform me about it (disturbance) last week and I told him that I would get back to him. This is the festive period and during the festive period, we have to play music often because of the Christmas, New Year and other activities. So, they don’t expect us to switch off our music during this period. Normally, the area is a noisy place, and in our hotel, we do run a bar and they don’t expect us not to play music.
“When I told the managing director, what he told me was that we were in the festive period and once it was over, the sound would not be much again and it would be only on weekends. For now, they should bear with us; our activities are like that because we use the music to draw people’s attention to our place because we need customers. It is not possible for us to play overnight when there is no customer, so whenever we play music, it is because we have customers.”
The Public Affairs Officer, LASEPA, Mariam Odedina, who confirmed to our correspondent that a complaint had been received by the agency regarding the incident, said the hotel would be visited this week.
“The complaint was sent in on Wednesday, December 12, 2018; we are working on it and it (hotel) is one of the facilities to be visited this week,” she said.
