Business owners who operate at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex and the huge population of customers that patronise them from within the country and the ECOWAS Subregion are in great agony, groaning in physical and psychological pain caused by the crippling, standstill vehicular gridlock they experience daily.
Trade Fair Complex is a massive, sprawling 350-hectare shopping facility along the Lagos-Badagry expressway, which is a very busy road corridor that leads to the strategic Nigeria-Benin Republic and also connects the area to the parts of the metropolitan Lagos.
The horrendous traffic situation experienced on the axis and particularly around the Trade Fair complex easily recalls to mind the Sunday morning of March 15, 2021, when thousands of families residing in the Lagos-Badagry road axis were hit by the boom of a massive explosion that took place about 9.00am as families were leaving their homes for church services in Abule-Ado, a community that sits beside the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex.
The resulting ball of fire and shock-wave set off by the explosion, pulled down a large number of buildings and blew off the roofs of countless others within a 500-metre radius.
Weeks after the horrific incident, the leadership of the Trade Fair Stakeholders Association (TFSA), an umbrella body for the over 17 business groups that operate in the complex, held a meeting with the hierarchy of the Trade Fair Management Board (TFMB), headed at the time by Acting Executive Director, Mr. Dejilack, to discuss the issue of improving safety in and around the complex.
At the meeting, stakeholders after thanking God for the blast which happened on a Sunday, a non-trading day, laid out clear and compelling reasons in their advocacy and made a plaintive appeal for an alternative gate to be constructed, to allow easy exit and evacuation from the complex in times of emergency.
Considering the fast rising number of businesses in the complex, and the ever-increasing human traffic, estimated at more than one million people, who troop in for various transactions, in addition to the innumerable number of personal cars and trucks that enter and exit the complex daily, the stakeholders stressed that having just one gate serving the complex could lead to a monstrous disaster. Against this background, the stakeholders strongly advocated for another wide gate, to save lives and properties during emergencies.
As Sunday Sun gathered, the TFMB easily saw wisdom in the request made by the stakeholders, and escalated the request to the Federal Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce, which is its parent ministry, which graciously approved the project but made it clear that that there was no budgetary provision for execution of the project.
The TFSA rose to the occasion and agreed to sponsor construction of the new gate, including a new 100-metre access road built with interlocking pavement and drainage system. The new gate, as agreed, was built in the Ado Soba area of Abule-Ado via Omonile axis with direct link to FESTAC Town. It was completed and delivered before the end of December 2022.
However, before the delivery of the new gate, a substantive Executive Director, Mr. Charles Okoye, was appointed by the Ministry to oversee the Lagos International Trade Fair complex.
After the completion of the gate, the stakeholders approached the new Executive Director for the official commissioning of the road, who consulted the Abuja headquarters of the parent ministry. Sunday Sun gathered that a date in February 2023 was set for the official opening of the new gate.
However, February came and passed and nothing happened. Several reminder letters were sent to TFMB for the opening of the gate without any answer from the management board.
Efforts to reach the Executive Director, Charles Okoye, to speak on this issue were unsuccessful at the time of filing this story. However, some officials of the TFMB who commented on the issue on the grounds of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak for the Board, explained that there was no concrete reason keeping the gate from being opened and put to use. It was further revealed that the ministry was under the impression that the gate had been opened since February as agreed with stakeholders last year.
Meanwhile, investigations show that due to the massive number of vehicles entering the market, which currently is the largest in Africa, leaving the complex in the evenings is now a nightmare as many car owners are stock in the traffic till 1.00am in the morning every day.
Some car owners who spoke to journalists on the matter cried out to the TFMB and the Ministry to come to their aid and open the new gate which has been ready for use since last year.
In a telephone interview, the Chairman of TFSF and incumbent President of Association of Progressive Traders (APT), Chief Eric Ilechukwu said: “We have been reminding TFMB to help us open the new gate to save lives, time and inconveniences. We have done all that was required from us to do for the opening of the gate. We are hopeful that it will be opened as soon as possible so that people will stop suffering every evening trying to leave the complex at the end of a business day.
“A lot of people have suffered heat stroke and some fainted due to being stuck in their cars in the gridlock,” Ilechukwu said.
Also speaking, Secretary of the TFSA and chairman of the Gate Construction Committee, Mayor Kenneth Ugboajah told Sunday Sun: “We are very hopeful that the Trade Fair Management Board will see reason with the daily sufferings of Nigerians in going home from the complex and therefore open the new gate very soon.”
He explained that the target of the new gate is to take away a major chunk of traffic from the main gate as the new gate will move traffic through Abule Ado and link up FESTAC Town where majority of business operators at the complex reside. Besides, it will reduce traffic at the main gate and bring back exit sanity to the complex.
Credit: Daily Sun