By Emma Nnadozie, Crime Editor
Last Thursday, bulldozers and heavy duty vehicles belonging to Lagos state government descended on high rise buildings at the Lagos International Market popularly called Trade Fair complex. They ended up leveling the buildings including people’s property worth billions of naira. Cries of anguish and sorrow rented the air and helpless traders whose livelihoods depended on the destroyed edifices stood dejectedly watching their investments reduced to rubles. While outraged Nigerians condemned the act, the state government claimed it was enforcing its mandate to enforce physical planning law of the state.
A Lagos based legal practitioner conversant with both the origin and development of the complex, Barrister Martin Okpaleke spoke with Vanguard over the development.
Excerpts:
Trade Fair Board answerable to FG
By virtue of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board Act, 1977, Chapter (CAP) L12 of the 2004 edition of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, the Complex Management Board is a statutory body established by and answerable to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments.
It is also a Federal Government enterprise under the provisions of the Public Enterprises (Privatization and Commercialization) Act, and here the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the National Council on Privatization (NCP) both created under that enactment, are in focus.
Claims by Lagos state government
It is understood that the Lagos State Government, in carrying out the very controversial demolitions, claims to have acted pursuant to a 2003 judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Attorney General of Lagos State versus Attorney General of the Federation.
To put things in their proper perspective, it is necessary to state right away that the above decision of the Supreme Court did not specifically authorize or validate the extremely controversial demolitions carried out by the Lagos State Government at the Complex.
Supreme Court decision
What the Supreme Court decided in that case is that: Urban and regional planning and physical development in Lagos State are residual matters, falling under the exclusive legislative and executive powers of Lagos State Government and not the Federal Government. The same applies to other states and their respective governments; The Federal Government’s Urban and Regional Planning Act, by the Supreme Court’s decision, became void to the extent that it seeks to apply outside the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to the various States in the country.
While the Federal Government, through the National Assembly, lost the power to legislate on physical planning matters outside the Federal Capital Territory, individual states, including Lagos State, gained autonomy over their physical development strategies and land use planning. The decision of the Supreme Court did not go beyond the foregoing and neither did it specifically authorize the Lagos State Government to go into the Trade Fair Complex and demolish private or Federal Government property within the complex. The apex court certainly did not consider or void or nullify either the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board Act or the Public Enterprises (Privatization and Commercialization) Act both of which remain extant. It is not clear to what extent, if any, the Lagos State Government engaged the management of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board, the management of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, the National Council on Privatization chaired by the Vice President of Nigeria or the Federal Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments before seemingly invading this Federal Government property and carrying out the demolitions.
If reports and statements attributed to officials of the Lagos State Government in the mainstream and social media are to be believed, it appears that the demolitions were unilateral actions taken by the State Government without engagement with the Federal Government of Nigeria and its relevant agencies, particularly the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board which is both the statutory and also contractual landlord of the owners of the demolished properties. There is also no indication yet that the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the National Council on Privation were in the loop in this action by the Lagos State Government. If the above represents the reality of the situation, then this could be seen by many, particularly the victims, as amounting to a very grave and brazen abuse of power and authority by the Lagos State Government in its sheer unilateralism and negation of the most basic tenets of intergovernmental relations and coordination in a federation such as we have in Nigeria.
In the Supreme Court decision the Lagos State Government left open the option of cooperation between the State and Federal authorities in the application and enforcement of State physical planning laws, particularly in circumstances such as exists at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex where the Federal Government has special proprietary and other interests in property, in this case aimed at the facilitation of regional trade in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. It is not clear whether the Lagos State Government followed the due process stipulations and strictures on its powers in its physical planning laws such as the issuance of timely contravention notices, removal and demolition notices, inspections, either directly or through the authorities of the Trade Fair Complex Management Board and the Federal Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investments considering reports that many of the victims of the demolitions claim not to have received any such notices from the State Government or the Federal Government agencies.
If the Lagos State Government somehow procured an order or orders of a court of law, whether that be of the State’s Magistrate Court or High Court, were the victims (or the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex Management Board) put on notice of any proceedings leading to any such orders? Or were such orders, if any, made wholly ex Parte? And for the Trade Fair Complex Management Board, considering the state of the law on the subject, it had a responsibility and also owed a duty of care to its tenants in the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex to ensure that building constructions and developments in that Complex complied with all extant laws applicable in Lagos State ,including the applicable physical planning laws and regulations applicable to the Complex.
If the Trade Fair Complex Management Board failed in its responsibility (including its responsibility to ensure compliance with the State’s laws) and duty of care to its tenants, one would have expected the Lagos State Government to use the machineries and processes of inter governmental relations to engage with the Federal authorities, particularly the Trade Fair Complex Management Board, to correct and remedy in a humane manner any unacceptable situation that could be existing in that Federal Government property rather than visit in an inhumane manner the sins of that Federal Government agency on the hapless victims of the demolition.
Lagos’ demand for hand over of complex
It is a matter of public knowledge that the Lagos State Government since the days of President Bola Tinubu as Governor of the State, had been making a case to the Federal Government for the handover of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex to the State. The Alhaji Femi Okunnu Commission set up by the Lagos State Government under the Governor Ambode Administration in its recommendations urged the State Government to demand the handover of the Complex to the State Government and the State Government issued a White Paper accepting the recommendation.
That a former Governor of Lagos State is now the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should caution the State Government to respect the rule of law, the due processes of law represented in its own physical planning and development laws and in the existence in force and efficacy of the Trade Fair Complex Management Board Act and the Public Enterprises (Privatization and Commercialization) Act. It should not resort to controversial demolitions which some consider to be unilateral, devoid of due process, a violation of the rule of law and inhumane.
Recommendation
Going forward, it is recommended that the Lagos State Government seek recourse to the tools, machineries, processes and procedures of inter governmental relations with respect to the complex and eschew any further recourse to unilateral, rash and inhumane actions that victimize citizens and destroy businesses and economic activities.
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