What could have led to the abandoned movement of Shoprite to Ikorodu after the state government had invested about N80M into the project which included payment of two landlords for the two buildings along Lagos road, Ikorodu, where the Ikorodu local government, which is proposed location for the Shoprites was to be relocated to?
Why must the State Government continue to waste taxpayers’ money by wasting such a huge amounts on renting, refurbishing and partitioning of the buildings and at the end of the day, abandon the project?
This is the question on the lips of many people concerning the project.
Again, why must the Chairman of Ikorodu Local Government, Hon. Wasiu Adesina, at the last minute said he has not received letter from the State Government directing them to move the council to the rented buildings when in actual fact in an interview he granted Oriwu Sun in 2018, he said that the council would move after the completion of the refurbishment and partitioning of the two buildings.
Information reaching us is that the landlords have been handed back their keys to the buildings by the management of Ibile Holding who allegedly told them that they are no longer interested in the buildings again after paying more than N60 million as rent excluding agent commission and renovation expenses.
Why the abrupt halt in the plan? What has changed the original arrangement? Has change in administration affected everything? These are the questions many are asking.
When Oriwu Sun made inquiry into the situation, it was gathered that there was no genuine reason for halting the proposed shopping mall in Ikorodu. When we reached the Chairman of Ikorodu Local Government over the matter, he told our reporter that the State Government has not authorized them to move to the new site; so they have not moved on to the refurbished facilities on Lagos road.
The Ibile Holdings Limited, which is the Lagos State Agency responsible for the renovation and refurbishing of the new site has not responded to calls from the media. All efforts made to reach the Managing Director of Ibile Holdings to speak on the matter have proved abortive as he wouldn’t pick up his calls neither has he returned our calls.
In a frantic bid to uncover possible reasons why the proposed Shoprite Mall was abandoned, our reporters spoke with some indigenes regarding the issue. It was gathered that two different school of thoughts have supporting and dissenting views about displacing the Ikorodu LG Secretariat for the proposed shopping mall.
The first group sees the anticipated mall as welcoming development, which will bring many prospects to Ikorodu division. To this group, the Local Government Secretariat’s relocation to Lagos Road is a good idea since it will pave way for a venture of immense economic value with a prospect of employing many indigenes, beautifying the town, and increasing tax bracket to governments.
On the other hand, another group that believe that moving the Ikorodu Secretariat to Lagos Road is an assault on the Local Government. This group believes that the current Secretariat site is a sort of heritage facility for the town and should not be moved on any account.
Many have assumed, perhaps, the latter group are behind the delay it relocation. It is possible that there have been covert agitation from this group to foil the plan.
After so much investment on the proposed plans, it is worth asking why we are fond of wasting money on projects we end up abandoning. More than N80M have been invested in the relocation plans and yet some are working to halt the whole plans.
As it is, the Ibile Holdings, who are the managing agency, have returned keys of the newly refurbished buildings to their landlords. This happened after the two-year rent expired and there was no feasible plan in view to move into the property.
In an interview with the landlords, they confirmed the news that the Government Agency has returned their keys and told them to use the facilities for any business they want after spending millions of naira for renovation of the buildings. In an interview with the Council Chairman, Mr. Wasiu Adesina, he asserts that they have not received any authorization from the State Government to move into the new properties. When asked why so much money had to be spent on the new facilities when they don’t have plans of moving in, the Chairman affirmed that his council never spent a dime on the renovation of the Lagos Road properties. He explained that the State Government, through Ibile Holdings, paid for the renovation expenses.
The questions now is, “Why did the State Government abort plans after investing so much on it? Why couldn’t they complete the project started from the previous administration?”