The iconic Agbowo shopping complex sits strategically between the restless University of Ibadan first gate and Bodija International market. Constructed in 1983 by the administration of Chief Ajibola Ige to serve the burgeoning and booming urban population; the edificial structure quietly boosts 84 shopping units, 10 storey building and banking halls, three departmental stores, and one cafeteria, night club, fifteen groceries shops, and 540 seaters cinema theatre.
At the time of its construction, the monumental mall stood gingerly as the jewel of the Pace Setter state, rising distinctly as the biggest and largest one-stop shopping store – catering to the needs of the lower, middle, and upper class. Standing imposingly strong, the complex shines brighter as one of the enduring legacy of Ige’s administration; reminding subsequent administrations of the tremendous power of vision in the quest to drive social and economic development at the sub-national level in a third-world country.
Until years of neglect and abandonment by successive governments in the state snatched away its luster, symbolic and iconographic function. In 2012, the administration of late Senator Abiola Ajimobi took a bold and decisive step towards reclaiming the complex lost glory with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the tune of eight billion naira. Down the memory lane, that MOU couldn’t withstand the test of time as its light became dimmed even before it sees the day.
Just like other previous efforts intended to revamp the moribund building, Abiola Ajimobi’s intervention also fell by the wayside; effectively and squarely putting the burden of renovation and remodeling on the neck of Governor Seyi Makinde ‘Omituntun’s administration.
More than any other time since its construction, the Agbowo shopping complex came under a glistening ray of hope when Governor Seyi Makinde re-launched the remodeling and renovation on September 23, 2020. Speaking at the event which had top government functionaries in attendance, Governor Makinde said the building once completed will be converted into premium commercial real estate and a a a an a a an a 4-star hotel. Makinde’s words were reassuringly believable. His promise of doing what no government has done made perfect sense to the small-scale business owners whose source of livelihood seems tied to that place. Confidently, Governor Makinde told enthusiastic listeners at the flag-off to expect in two years what the previous administration could not deliver in eight years. As someone with little or no political background, his words carried the weight of an honest and sincere public servant.
But two years after that sweet and promising speech, the Agbowo shopping complex leased out to Whitestone Global Ltd at the whooping amount of #4.9 billion is tragically and heart-wrenchingly back to its rotting, stinking self. Deserted by people, the once beacon and symbol of development are the now safest hideout for criminals, men of underworlds, and people with mental disorders. The reason for this abandonment is not far-fetched.
Given the way abandoned projects are scattered across the state nooks and crannies, with the Agbowo complex just being one of the statistics; one cannot help but wonder what exactly is wrong with the gap between promises made and those fulfilled by this regime. For a government that came to power to do things differently from the previous regimes, abandoned and neglected projects are nothing but heavy slaps. Crucially, abandoned projects portend far more economic danger to the state than anything other things.
For one, it has displaced people from their usual place of work and reduced the amount of internally generated revenue for the government while sending more hands into the dreaded labor market. No government would take job provision and economic development seriously by leaving a place as strategic as the Agbowo complex in its present worst condition; a complex that is projected to provide 5,000 direct jobs to teeming unemployed youths.
In addition, abandoned projects can reduce people’s productivity and performance, when people are forced to evict their place of work for a promise that such place would be transformed into an economic hub, they resort to a temporary shelter where their potential is constrained and output limited. Above all, the borrowing spree embarked upon by this regime and the level of abandoned projects are quite alarming. There is a strong correlation between abandoned projects and borrowing sprees; such that the duo is capable of sending a state into the tailspin of economic meltdown. Not surprisingly that the same depressing scenario unfolding at the national level in terms of reckless borrowing has found its way into the heart of the Oyo state government.
Writing for the New York Times about the calamity unfolding in Sri Lanka, Journalist Kapil Komireddi enthused that one of the main causes of the country’s economic turmoil is debilitating debt. He added that the hubris and recklessness of the Rajapaksa dynasty are other factors the country teeters on the precipice of collapse. “The turmoil in Sri Lanka” he contented “is a dire warning sign in this period of inflammatory unrest in developing economies – Nigeria, Laos, Pakistan, and others – battered by debt and mounting food and fuel prices”.
Perhaps with the recent additional N2billion approved by the rubber stamp state assembly on 23 June 2022 to provide counterpart funds for donor-assisted projects across the state, the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde has indeed plunged the state into the financial dungeon. Like Nigeria, Oyo state appears ready to toil Sri Lanka’s disastrous path, dragging the state closer to bankruptcy and financial insolvency than ever imagined with debilitating debt and abandoned projects.
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s Opinion about Issues affecting Oyo state, published on Saturdays. He can be reached via muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com and 09065176850
