Agbowo Shopping Complex, CBN’s Housing Scheme Owode Estate: A tale of how not to build a nation

The Agbowo Shopping Complex and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Housing Scheme, Owode, Ibadan, Oyo State capital are a tale of many parts. They both depict a pathetic saga of flagrant abandonment and a reflection of how not to build a nation. Gabriel Oshokha was part of the facility inspection by the Chief Bayo Lawal-led management team of the Oyo State Housing Corporation and relays the reality at both locations.

The Agbowo Shopping Complex is strategically located opposite the main gate of the nation’s premier university—the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The edifice was the brainchild of the then military governor of the Western Region of Nigeria, General David Jemibewon, while the inauguration was performed by the current democratic president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, October 22, 1984 as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces  of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In the good old days, the Agbowo Shopping Complex was a beehive of commercial activities akin to modern malls, as it attracted patrons from far and near. But the 36-year-old complex is currently a shadow of itself, having been blighted over the years by lack of maintenance.

And unlike Egdon Heath in The Return of the Natives by Thomas Hardy, on whose face time makes little impression, Agbowo Shopping Complex now in ruins is left with just a few occupants plying their businesses in the complex without paying any form of rent to the corporation since 2012.

On Wednesday, February 27, 2020 the newly appointed chairman of the Oyo State Housing Corporation, Chief Bayo Lawal, in company with the management team of the corporation and newsmen visited Agbowo Shopping Complex and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Housing Scheme in Owode Estate for an assessment of the current state of the corporation’s properties.

This assessment tour was in keeping faith with the mandate of the Seyi Makinde-led administration to resuscitate for economic viability the 22 estates of the corporation in different local government areas of the state, including Agbowo Shopping Complex.

The breakdown shows seven estates in Ibadan, including the Agbowo Shopping Complex; nine in Oke-Ogun; two in Oyo; one in Ogbomoso and three in Ibarapa.

According to a director of the corporation, most of the deserted estates came into being in the 80s during the democratic era of the late Chief Bola Ige, apart from Ajoda New Town and the Bodija Estate.

Addressing journalists after the inspection of facilities at the neglected complex, Chief Lawal who viewed the decaying complex with unconcealed disgust, said:  “I have moved round the edifice; actually, it’s nothing to write home about. It’s, in fact, an eyesore. We have the high-rise structure of about 10 floors unoccupied. It’s not just that it’s unoccupied, the situation inside is horrible.

“I have chatted with a few of the occupants and I could see some value addition they are providing to the environment. But for them, only God knows what this place would have turned into completely. Unsolicited, they are the watchmen and women of the complex; and they make sure miscreants don’t take control of this edifice.”

While harping on the strategic location of the complex, Lawal said: “If you look at the location of this place, it’s so central that it must not be left wasting and rotting away like this. It didn’t get sufficient attention in the past; previous administrations neglected this place to the detriment of all of us in Oyo State. I cannot sit down as chairman of the housing corporation and have this edifice under my watch and then keep quiet as if nothing is happening.”

Reiterating plans by the Makinde-led administration to transform the shopping complex into a modern mall, Lawal said: “When Governor Makinde was campaigning, he was here; he gave assurances that this place would be renovated, uplifted and resurrected. So, we want to transform this place into a shopping mall that everybody all over Nigeria, indeed across the world, will come and shop; will come for entertainment.

“Everything is here; we have a hall, we have a cinema hall here. It’s a comprehensive complex, but it has been in a state of dereliction for so many years. We thank God this is a government that is prepared to transform this place based on agreement between the government and the people—‘vote me in and I will do this for you.’

“Our people have voted Engr. Seyi Makinde in as governor; it’s now his turn to fulfil his campaign promises, and part of it is to transform Agbowo Shopping Complex, and that’s what I have come to do.”

Speaking on the synergy between the corporation and the existing occupants on the planned transformation of the complex, Lawal said: “We have moved round together with the residents of this complex, and there is a synergy—an agreement that whenever government wants to begin the renovation of the complex they are prepared to leave; and not only leaving, that they are prepared to cooperate with the contractors or consultants that will be awarded the contract to renovate this place.

However, Lawal promised that the existing illegal tenants in the complex and those that had already vacated the shops would be considered first during reallocation of shops in the complex after the face-lift.

“We are all witnesses of what is happening around us in terms of shopping malls. If you go to Ogun State or Osun State, they have befitting shopping malls, not to talk of Lagos,” Lawal said.

Speaking to the Nigerian Tribune, an occupant of the complex who preferred anonymity confirmed that the existing occupants had been given eviction notice by the corporation since 2012, implying that they are, indeed, illegal occupants in the complex.

Affirming this revelation, the acting General Manager of the corporation, Jire Adekunle, said: “Oyo State government since 2012 has not collected any form of rent from any of the tenants at the shopping complex.”

And from Agbowo Shopping Complex, the next destination of the train was the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Quarters in Owode Estate covering 24.262 hectares (or 60.655 acres), dotted with several multi-storey buildings in varying degrees of collapse.

Speaking to newsmen at the location, the Housing Corporation chairman, Chief Lawal, who could not hide his disapproval of the abandonment of the quarters by CBN, said: “We have come on a visit to Owode Estate of the Housing Corporation. Within this estate, we have the Central Bank of Nigeria quarters which was built in the 80s. It’s a massive estate within our own estate.

“We observe that the buildings have become dilapidated. We observe that the structures are even weak to the extent that I do not know whether they can serve the purpose for which they were built.”

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When asked what the next line of action the Housing Corporation would take,  Lawal said: “We reserve the right to have these buildings demolished, and we will convert the land into other purposes. Don’t forget that he who owns the land owns everything on it, even the high heavens, and I’m going to apply that principle.

“We regard the CBN as a sister organisation and so we should relate in a friendly manner; but if they show reluctance, I will have no other option than to have this place demolished.

“Even neighbours have petitioned and they are alleging that maybe the Housing Corporation is complicit, which is not so. The buildings themselves have constituted security risk and an abode for miscreants, and we are not going to allow that in our estate. Not only have the buildings become an eyesore, but they have also distorted the aesthetic masterpiece that we have for Owode Estate,” Lawal said.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE