Computer Village Relocation Gets Stakeholders’ Support

Nosa Alekhuogie

The long-term plan to relocate the Computer Village market at Ikeja, Lagos, to the Katangowa area of Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, a suburb of Lagos, has received a major boost following a successful stakeholders’ meeting where issues affecting the take-off of the project were resolved.

The relocation plan had since been designed to address the challenges of market congestion faced by the market, believed to be the largest concentration of computer devices and accessories, including mobile phones and accessories.

The meeting attended by heads of plazas, officials of trade associations and representatives of the ethnic groups at the market, was able to resolve the internal wrangling that had essentially slowed down the movement to the new site since 2016 when the agreement was signed between the Lagos State government and Bridgeways, the market developer.

Apart from endorsing the project, the stakeholders also appointed Mr. Ademola Olaifa as interim chairman and Osy Ijeomah, a legal practitioner as secretary of the committee, which was setup at the venue to act as bridge between Bridgeways Global Projects Limited, and the village community.

Olaifa who is also the Public Relations Officer of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN), the elected body that manages the market activities, expressed delight to be involved in the new arrangement, describing the project as “a viable one, a life-saving project that everybody that is alive want to identify with. It is a thing we have been struggling for over the years. We are grateful to God Almighty for sparing our lives to witness the taking off of the project.”

He added that the project is a laudable one that would benefit the Computer Village, Lagos State, Nigeria as a whole, and Africa generally.

The CEO of Bridgeways, Mr. Jimmy Onyemenam, said the whole essence of the meeting was to establish an all- inclusive vehicle that would serve as coordinator through which the developer could interface with the residents of the market.

According to him, “At the moment the project is at the verge of flagging off, with the state government commencing a lot of expansion work, by clearing of the site and to hand over the site to us.

“We expect that to commence anytime from now. On Monday, we had a meeting with the squatters on the site and they are on standby to move. Fortunately, the state government is putting a human face to all of these and efforts are being made to make their relocation as painless as possible for all there is going to be a lot of movement but not as gruesome as experiences of the past.”

Onyemenam gave a simplified account of the project, its scope, and size and the facilities that would be provided at the computer village.