Senator Victor Umeh’s outrage over the Lagos Trade Fair demolition is not misplaced — but the rot runs deeper than a clash of political jurisdictions.
The Lagos International Trade Fair Complex is, by law, a federal property managed by the Trade Fair Management Board (TFMB) under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment. This is clearly documented in the Federal Government Gazette No. 14 of 1977, establishing the complex.
Yet, Lagos State insists that federal ownership does not exempt compliance with its Urban and Regional Planning Law (2019), which requires planning permits for any physical structure within state territory — including federal sites. That’s the legal grey zone where the demolition war was born.
Now, let’s examine the facts behind the noise:
Between May and July 2025, the Ikeja High Court reportedly issued two interim injunctions restraining the Trade Fair Management Board from interfering with leased plots occupied by Portman Freight Services Ltd and other private developers. None of those orders, however, restrained Lagos State from enforcing planning laws.
Lagos officials claim that most of the demolished buildings violated setbacks, blocked drain channels, or were constructed without valid state approvals — facts they backed up with satellite imagery and internal planning audit reports.
Traders’ associations, on the other hand, maintain that the federal board had already approved their structures and that no state warning was issued before bulldozers moved in. There’s yet no independent evidence to confirm or disprove either claim.
What is certain is that billions of naira in goods and structures were lost overnight, affecting mostly southeastern traders who have operated there for decades.
The truth, stripped of sentiment, is this: The demolition sits at the intersection of federal–state rivalry, overlapping legal authority, and poor intergovernmental coordination. When bureaucracies clash, citizens pay the price.
While Lagos may have the legal right to enforce physical planning rules, its timing, communication, and human face were disastrous. And while Senator Umeh is right to call out intimidation, he must also push for a joint federal–state review of property jurisdiction to prevent similar chaos in future.
Until then, what happened at Trade Fair is not just an “illegal act.” It’s a tragic mirror of how Nigeria’s governance structure punishes productivity and rewards confusion.
