Seven months after the expiration of the tenure of the board of directors of the expansive Lagos International Trade Fare Complex (LITFC), the federal government is yet to constitute another board.
Added to it is the fact that since the first term tenure of the Executive Director/CEO came to an end, nobody has been appointed to the position or the tenure of the former occupant renewed.
The place can now be likened to a sheep without shepherd, a rudderless ship as no one is in charge and there is virtually ‘nobody’ the staff can take directives from except for the ‘occasional’ intervention by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Niyi Adebayo, whose ministry is the supervisory ministry.
According to a source who spoke to us recently, the place is returning to its pre-PDP days when the government appointed concessionaire and a few powerful individuals held sway and never remitted a dime to the government. He said that some powerful traders are now operating like lords on to themselves since April when the tenure of the erstwhile Executive Director, Chief (Mrs. Lucy Omosefe-Ajayi, expired.
The board that would have checkmated the excessiveness of the powerful individuals is not in place too as their tenure has equally expired since February. The not more than five members board was led then by Barr. Mela Nunghe (SAN).
According to a source, “all the guidelines BPE put in place for the privatisation of the complex wey the board and the CEO respected while in office, the minister who is now charge, has abuse. Anyone wey take over the complex now get plenty work to do,” he concluded in Pidgin English. “in fact some members of staff are short of calling for return.”
