Feyisayo Popoola
The Federal Government, through the
National Council on Privatisation, has sacked the concessionaire in
charge of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex over the
non-remittance of lease fees totalling N6bn.
As stated in the termination letter
issued by the NCP, the concessionaire, Aulic Nigeria Limited, had
breached the agreement it signed in 2007 with the Federal Government.
According to the letter, the
illegalities perpetrated over the years by the concessionaire vary from
the non-remittance of the lease fees to the alleged eviction of the
management board from the administrative building, among others.
The letter stated that the NCP
terminated the concession agreement on August 23, but took some time to
implement the decision due to logistics and security reasons.
The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris, had on November 20, issued a directive that the concessionaire
be evicted from the complex and this was smoothly carried out.
According to the termination letter, the
management board, headed by the Executive Director, Lagos International
Trade Fair Complex, Mrs. Lucy Ajayi, was directed to take possession of
the complex from the concessionaire.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos
on Tuesday, Ajayi said the board would now be able to perform its
statutory function and move the complex to greater heights.
Ajayi, while addressing the shop owners,
assured them that they were in an era of new change, stating that the
management board would do its best to ensure that their interests were
taken into consideration.
“I want to thank you all for your
perseverance and endurance during those trying periods. I use this
medium to assure you that all those injustices meted out to you in the
time past are over,” she said.
The Chairman, Stakeholders Forum, Lagos
International Trade Fair Complex, Mr. Jude Okeke, described the takeover
by the management board as a re-birth for the complex.
According to him, by design, the
management board is supposed to be the landlord of the complex,
overseeing all the activities within and around it.
“We have been in the wilderness for a
long time and this has caused a lot of losses in financial, trade and
other aspects,” Okeke stated.