By the time the fresh  push  by the Lagos State government to relocate Ikeja  Computer Village to  Katangowa in Agbado/Oke Odo Local Government of the state is materialised,   the Ikeja local government  will be losing about N60 million annually from levies.

This levies, it was gathered,   are collected  annually from about six thousand  different categories of shops in the market.

Successive governments have to relocate the ICT market to the new location without success.

Computer Village, Ikeja

The government had  said that the relocation of the market to   Katangowa would  curb environmental degradation, housing stock deficit and traffic congestion in the Ikeja axis. But the new  development has continued to worry the traders who believe the new location is out of place.

The said amount  is under local  government  levies including trade permit, lock shop, among others.

Apart from the amount the government will lose, the landlords are not left out too.

The ICT traders in first category of shops, according to findings pay  between N1.3m to N1.5m annually to the landlords while  ICT traders in the second category of shops, according to findings, pay  between N700,000 toN800,000  annually to landlords.

Similarly, ICT traders in the third  category of shops, pay  about N350,000 to N400,000 annually to landlords.

Although the planned relocation is a long term project, a close monitoring of activities in the market  last week by Sun Tech News showed that on the average,  the six thousand  shops in the ICT market may be paying about 10,000 annually as levies to   government.

The levies paid by the ICT traders, according to findings are based on the negotiating power of the shop owner.  Regular shops, for instance, according to findings pay between N8,500 to N10,000 depending on the negotiating power.

While the  planned relocation of the market may not have gone down well with the ICT traders who enjoy the central location of the market in Ikeja, the Lagos  state Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Wasiu Anifowose, in a  recent report had  said; “We have held a stakeholders’ meeting with the traders and they agreed to the relocation plan.”

Anifowoshe, recently, when the leadership of Computer and Allied Product Dealers Association of Nigeria, CAPDAN, visited him to seek clarification on the state government’s fresh plan for the market relocation, had  insisted that there was no going back on the decision to relocate the market. According to him, the government is yet to come out with the blueprint for the planned relocation, a development that has continued to worry the ICT traders.

To allay fears, the  Assistant Public Relations Officer of CAPDAN, Mr. Presley Ibadin,   had said that the state government has promised it would carry the leadership of the traders along in all its intents and purposes concerning the relocation plan.

The President of Phone and Allied Products Dealers Association, PAPDAN, Mr. Geoffrey Iyke Nwosu had earlier said that,   “My association and other stake holders in the market have attended meetings regarding the relocation before this present administration assumed office. We have prepared our members on the planned relocation of the market after our town hall meeting with Governor Ambode during his campaign in Surulere in 2015. Once the Abule Egba fly over project is completed, I know that the governor will not tarry. We are, therefore, open to work with the Lagos State Government  on the strategic planning for the relocation.”

Certain activities in the market had strongly been criticized by good numbers of people across the country whose concerns centered on the conduct of certain unqualified engineers and fraudster who uses the market as a medium to sell counterfeit mobile phones and computer accessories.