It took the organisers of the ongoing Trade Fair, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) almost 12 months of intensive meetings to prepare for this year's edition currently ongoing at the International Trade Fair Complex, along Lagos - Badagry Expressway. Vice President and Chairman, Trade and Promotion Board, 'Remi' Bello, who also doubles as Managing Director/CEO, Crittall-Hope Nigeria Limited discussed this and more with Emma Eke at the fair ground. Excerpt:What makes this year's fair peculiar'THERE are so many of them, but I can only say that the intensive meeting of the various committees of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which lasted for up most 12 months before the commencement of the fair itself. This could be largely responsible for whatever success that it is registering in the public eyes. There are various committees, headed by the chief executive officers of the privately owned companies, as members of the Chamber and they have been worked with experts in related fields as consultants. To me, the sacrifices by these people could only be seen from the point of view of the determination by LCC to make a difference at every exhibition it organises. Even a week after the kick off, we still hardly have time to spare for our individual companies as we are always at the fair ground; and this will continue till it ends.Some observers have noted that the fair has little or no exhibition of locally made items, why is this so'It will not be correct to say that there are no homegrown innovations at the fair; rather one can say they are limited in number when compared with the number of foreign-made goods. But that should not be isolated from the fact that Nigeria is still largely an import-dependent country still struggling to overcome the challenges on that. We have always encouraged local manufacturers to participate and display what they have, and I think this year's fair is not an exception. Ours is to encourage those having any technology to feel convinced in letting the rest of the world know about it.What is the role of the concessionaire in this year's fair'They are the owners of the fair ground as concessionaire and we entered into agreement with them, which saw us paying them for the use of their facilities as landlord. And we were charged off- the-roof (general laughter).How much was that and what is the total cost so far that the Chamber has borne to see the fair this far'I'm not in a position to say that knowing that various sub-committees and experts, as consultants, are involved and until they turn in their reports, it will be guesswork to put any figures for now.But a source was quoted as putting the figure at about N200 million'That could be perhaps the cost of renovating the facilities, but definitely not from the Chamber. As you can see there are new facilities that have been put in place this year. We had to construct a new Fair Secretariat; re-construct the various exhibition stands for participants and others like that, those are things that have been put in place to ensure that the exhibition ground wears a new look. We have made tem to be lasting facilities that could be used in subsequent years.Road and security are challenges facing the location of the fair ground, how have you been coping in winning confidence of the participants and visitors'We have done our best to ensure an improvement in those areas you have mentioned. On security alone, we have the cooperation of all the security agencies' name them. In fact, we went as far as involving the Bomb Disposal Unit to make double sure that nothing is taken for granted. There is 24-hour surveillance within the vicinity of the fair and this is monitored via our close circuit television (CCTv). Some senior security officials are coordinating that. As far as we are concerned, we have not taken security for granted. On the poor road condition, we approached the construction firms handling the on-going Lagos-Badagry Expressway Road to see reason to help us.How is a fair of this magnitude organised'AS far as we are concerned, we have been organising international trade fairs in the past 20 years in the country and there has not been any denial of this fact. It is the Nigerian Association of Chamber of commerce and Industry (NACCIMA) that has the right to give approval for anybody or group to organise trade air in Nigeria and they gave us this right hence we are the organisers of the fair; anybody nor organ may have been invited to render one service or the other, but it does not remove the fact that LCCI is the sole organisers of the 2011 Trade Fair. This year, more than 12 sectors of the economy are participating, excluding other unclassified ones.In other countries, trade fairs are held more regularly than in Nigeria, when will this be the case here'Time is coming when that will be. We are already having it in the pipeline to have various sectors of the economy organise a fair that will showcase what their sectors can afford. But for now, it may not be easy having this type of fair more than twice in a year, given what it has taken us to come this far. But we have boosted the economy of the country through this fair. For instance, thousands of jobs have been created, thereby making the idle hands to be engaged.The effect of that is that in the next couple of months, many of the firms that have showcased what they have will retain most of the ad-hoc staff that they have engaged. Also, commerce and industry would have received some added values to what has been on the ground. That is why I said that what we have put in, individually and as a group, cannot be quantified; is it the time we have been spending here as planners of the fair that is to be measured' Some of us literally sleep here while some closed our private business concerns to ensure that the right thing is done but the credit goes to the Chamber and the economy at large.
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