By McPhilips Nwachukwu & Lydia Obot
Last week marked one year  that former Chairman of BHS International, the concessionaires of Tafawa Balewa Square, Fred Archibong passed on after a brief illness.

To mark that momentous loss to the art, business and investment communities, friends and former colleagues of the late Archibong, renowned multi media artist and Senior Special Assistant on Arts to the Federal Government during President Olusegun Obasanjo regime, gathered at the  historic event centre, Tafawa Balewa Square to commemorate with various activities the life and times of the late artist , whose immense contributions  helped to place the discipline and business of art in Nigeria in the development ladder of National economy.

As part  of activities lined up to celebrate the Cross River State born entrepreneurial artist included; an art exhibition titled; Living Legend, a  three hour Walk for Fred round the TBS, drama sketch, symposium and a Thanksgiving Service held at the House on the Rock, BHS Auditorium, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.

Speaking on the theme of the symposium titled; The Role of Artist in Infrastructural Development: The Challenges and prospect, the Publisher/ Executive Producer of Artwatch Africa Magazine  and television Programme, Chief Joe Musa described the late artist as a polyvalent scholar, who  saw beyond the business of artistic representation of ideas, the possibility of translating ideas into practical platforms for the development of the physical, economic and tourism environment of the nation.

“He was a man with so much physical energy, intellectual sagacity and political passion. Fred possessed a confidence I am yet to see in many men and for an artist; this was the strength that granted him access to the high and mighty.” He said. Narrowing his talk to the business of infrastructural development, Chief Musa, a notable culture technocrat noted that no country was capable of developing its infrastructural base  by neglecting the critical intervention of its artists.

According to him; “No modern society can successfully develop without the contribution of the artist in whatever definition you may classify it : whether the visual artists or the performance artiste. From the design of motor cars, cities and tourism businesses, the input of the artist is so important in alignment with other sectoral professionals. ”

The late Archibong as  Chief Executive of BHS International Limited, got the concessionaire right to the tune of whooping 9.5 billion naira to develop under  30 years lease, the  decadent historic monument called Tafawa Balewa Square, where the symbolic birth of Nigeria as an independent nation took place in October, 1960.

The concessionaire deal was committed to rebuilding the dilapidated infrastructure, manage and transfer the famous Tafawa Balewa Square to becoming a one  stop  point shopping hub in the metropolitan Lagos.

“Fred occupied himself with the goal of achieving in the TBS complex, a one stop tourism center including and not limited to exhibition halls, modern shopping complexes, hotels, restaurants as seen in developed countries.” Musa argued.

Relieving his experiences at the occasion, Investment Attorney and present Chief Executive of BHS, Otunba Olu Adenodi lamented the slow pace at  which the concession project is going and blamed it on ethnic sentiment being expressed in some quarters.

However, Otuba Adenodi revealed that  “the company has committed millions of naira in the sinking of three bore holes to ensure adequate and constant supply of water since the only one inherited has partially collapsed.”

He also further revealed that an insurance cover worth 2, 040, 000,000.00( Two billion and Forty Million naira that covers fire and perils such as storm, flood, riot and malicious damages has been procured for the huge historical facility.