Major suppliers of materials and shop owners at the on-going reconstruction of N4.9 billion popular Agbowo shopping complex, Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday, cried out to Governor Seyi Makinde to save them from untimely death, noting: “Our children are hungry and have been sent out of schools.”
They demanded immediate refund of their over N250 million.
It would be recalled that Governor Makinde had since September 23, 2020, leased the shopping complex to Whitestone Global Limited for 50 years, with a promise to complete the renovation before May 2023.
Recall also that the governor said the remodeling of the structure, which many administrations had tried unsuccessfully to renovate, would see the investor injecting N4.9 billion to convert the moribund structure into premium commercial real estate and a four-star hotel.
The suppliers and shop owners, however, stormed the moribound complex in protest, yesterday, with placards with inscriptions such as: “Developer is a scammer”,“Our children are hungry”,
“We have sold our cars to pay some bank loans”, “Banks have taken over our property”, “Our children are out of schools, come to our rescue,” among others.
Speaking through their representatives, Femi Adigun, Bola Shokunbi and Olawale Tunde, the protesters lamented non payment of the money.
According to Adigun, “We have supplied so many things in the past 18 months, there are some of us that are contractors, some are electrical contractors, some are civil contractors. Up till date, we have not collected our money. We have taken so many steps, maybe probably because we are educated and we took them in civilised ways. That is why the state government has taken us for granted.
“We’ve gone to the ICPC, we’ve gone to the EFCC, we’ve gone to OYSIPA, we’ve gone to DSS, we have gone to Oyo State Government and we have submitted our letter personally to Oyo State Government Office, Room 47. Up till this moment, nothing has been done.
Shokunbi said: “I supplied stone dust worth N1 million. I supplied 10 trucks of 30 tonnes sand dust in which I was told that I would get my money after four weeks of delivery. Four weeks have turned to 18 months.
“Now, I have a baby that has multiple holes in the heart, the surgery has been done but I need money for her check up in Ife and University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan, because she has some health issues, which they have to correct before she grows up.”
Also speaking, Olawale, who represents shop owners said: “We paid between N1.5 million and N6 million. The biggest one was the one that paid for 11 shops.
We were promised that in six months that Agbowo Shopping complex would be ready.
“So, we bought equipment and everything is lying waste. This project was commissioned in 1985. This project is going to be a rot, we should not allow it to rot away.
Governor Makinde should prosecute it and finish it because a lot of us have borrowed money to pay rent. I personally paid three years rent while some people paid 10 years. We have already employed people to work here.”