Inhabitants of Ondo trade fair pleads for additional time before demolition.
In response to the Ondo State Government‘s proposal to demolish the Trade Fair Complex in Akure, the buildings’ occupants have asked the state government to extend the 14-day departure notice they were given.
They requested a three- to six-month delay to allow them to transfer their companies to a more suitable location along Akure’s Igbatoro Road.
The state administration had met with the tenants and occupants of the structures to inform them of the government’s desire to reconstruct the moribund facilities and replace them with a state-of-the-art complex in order to generate more money for the state, according to reports.
Mrs. Lola Fagbemi, the state’s Commissioner for Commerce, Industries and Cooperative Services, was said to have promised the company owners that the government will refund their rent for this year and that they would be relocated to the industrial park and mechanic village, among other sites in Akure.
However, Mr. Segun Akinwande, the General Secretary of the Registered Business Owners in the complex, told The Guardian yesterday in Akure that the organization was in favour of the state government’s effort.
He, on the other hand, objected to the tenants’ being given such a short notice, claiming that it would have a significant impact on their business operations and relocation.
Meanwhile, Donald Ojogo, the former Commissioner of Information and Orientation, has debunked the state government’s purported plan to demolish Shoprite, saying: “Instructively, Shoprite acts as the predecessor to the projected Central Business District.”
The intended Five Star Hotel, the unique Entrepreneurs’ Village, Revenue House, the envisioned Business Hub with varying degrees of luxury, development comforts, and others in the pipeline along that strait are all located there.
“Throughout the lifetime of the Rotimi Akeredolu-led administration, our aspirations for progress, particularly through credible investment pushes, will remain an enviable cruise.” No amount of deception or blackmail will be allowed to play a role.
“On our part, the current administration does not want to go down in history as a conveyor belt that discourages investment and discourages development.”
