Parley over LBIC zone shops scheme may hold this week

By Ladapo Kolade

A parley on the plan of the Lagos Building Investment Company to build shops in each of the 39 zones and prime locations on the estate is expected to hold at the Isolo Low Cost Housing Estate, Oke-Afa, Ejigbo this week.

It will bring the managers of the estate on the same page with the community leaders who resolved at a meeting on Friday that such a parley was critical to the implementation of the scheme.

The scheme is coming three years after the government agency demolished illegal structures on the estate for falling foul of the master plan put in place by the administration of Governor Lateef Jakande that launched the scheme in 1983.

Speaking at the meeting hosted by the chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Hon. Monsuru Bello Obe, the President of the estate’s landlords and residents association, Alhaji Isiaq Salami threw his weight behind the laudable objectives of the scheme but recommended a larger gathering including the chairmen of zones where the LBIC will break the details down for all.

He said he was in regular touch with the new Tobi Lawal- led administration of the agency and would close ranks to ensure adequate communication with the estate’s stakeholders on the scheme.

In his comment, a key elder of the community, Alhaji Surajudeen Giwa endorsed the scheme for helping to solve the problem of scarcity of shops that the residents have faced since the demolition.
However, he advised that more residents and leaders should be informed of the benefits so that the community can have a consensus on the scheme prior to its execution.

This, he said, would ensure that the construction will be realised by the builders without distraction.
Reviewing the proposal, the Iyaloja of Low Cost Housing Estate, Chief ( Mrs) Stella Adebiyi said the scheme is a welcome development for the estate in terms of provision of new shop opportunities and even the beauty of the environment.

She submitted that, when completed and acquired, the owners should realise that the shops are part of the markets on the estate and must comply with the directives of the state market authorities.

Alhaji Olayinka Falowo, former vice-chairman of the association embraced the zone shops scheme as the best to happen to the estate in recent times and praised the Tobi Lawal administration at the LBIC for bringing happiness to the community and reviving commercial activities deadened by the demolition.

He supported the parley with the LBIC as a further assurance that the project is fully backed by the government agency.

Expressing his own opinion,community leader Comrade Aderogba urged the LBIC to make the shops affordable to the residents.

He suggested that financing options such as mortgage facilities and rent -to-own should be considered to make payment easier.

Former secretary to the association during the Johnson administration, Prince Dimeji Gbadamosi supported the holding of a parley with the LBIC commending the new administration for being pro-active and solutions-driven.

He said if LBIC had embarked on such a scheme before the demolition, the suffering of many shop owners would have been avoided.

A former president of the association, Eminent Dotun Oriowo said the parley with the LBIC to be attended by the estate’s decision-making body should be organised on time so that factual and truthful information on the scheme could be disseminated to all and sundry.

He said inadequate and late information could undermine the scheme as different individuals would have wrong perception of project and its benefits.

Welcoming the participants, Hon. Monsuru Bello Obe said the zone shops scheme was the outcome of recommendations to the LBIC on how to solve the problems of shops on the estate following the demolition of illegal structures.

He said the recommendations by the former Honourable Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, who was also a former chairman of the LCDA, was designed to revive the commercial activities in the zones, provide a uniform shops structure and reverse the huge loss of revenue from annual shop permits suffered by the LCDA due to the demolitions.

He said it was in view of this role that he urged the LCDA to facilitate the management of the stakeholders to ensure successful collaboration and implementation of the project by the LBIC.