…Lagos Trade Fair Complex was opened in 1977. This is 48 years, so what has suddenly changed now? We can’t fight government, let the two authorities meet and resolve their matter, we are ready to comply.
The Lagos State Government has issued a two-week ultimatum to all developers and occupants of structures within the Trade Fair Complex, Badagry Expressway, to regularise their building approvals in accordance with state regulations.
In a statement signed on Thursday by the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, the government directed them to approach the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development for the regularisation of their documents, warning that enforcement actions would continue until full compliance with planning laws was achieved to ensure a safe, orderly, and sustainable physical environment.
Olumide stated that the Trade Fair Complex had over time become an enclave of haphazard and unsafe structures, posing serious risks to public safety and emergency response.
He said that the government’s actions are in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 11 — “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” — and the T.H.E.M.E.S+ Agenda of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Association of Progressive Traders, Trade Fair Complex, Eric Ilechukwu, maintained that all buildings recently demolished within the complex had approvals from the Federal Government agency managing the market.
He appealed for dialogue, saying: “The state and the federal government should settle their matter and convey their resolution to us; we are ready to abide. We are traders and investors, we are ready to comply. This is not the time in the history of the country to witness such destruction. Trade Fair Complex was opened in 1977. This is 48 years, so what has suddenly changed now? We can’t fight government, let the two authorities meet and resolve their matter, we are ready to comply.”
