By Temidayo Hassan
Last week’s demolition at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex in Ojo has reopened raw wounds, markets cleared, shops destroyed, livelihoods disrupted, and a public debate that has again turned from substance to spectacle. The Lagos State Government insists the action was technical, targeting illegal and unsafe structures. Many traders and rights groups see it as heavy-handed and, worryingly, ethnically tinged because a large number of affected business owners are from the southeast. Both positions contain elements of truth, and both expose a deeper failure; a government that allowed unregulated buildings to fester for years and then moved with sudden, punitive force.
Let’s be blunt. If the state had been enforcing planning laws consistently, there would have been no mass demolition as a shock event. The pictures of bulldozed plazas and weeping traders are the predictable culmination of years of lax oversight, missed inspections, and, perhaps, managerial indifference. Urban planning is not a fire-and-forget policy; it requires regular monitoring, clear land-use records, timely permit checks, and decisive but predictable enforcement. Allowing structures to be erected, to change use, to expand, and to become the de facto economy of a place, then moving only when political heat rises, looks less like governance than selective action. In short, the problem is not only illegal buildings. it is the long, avoidable window in which illegality was allowed to become entrenched.
But responsibility is shared. Many of the plazas and shops at the Trade Fair Complex were built, expanded or adapted without necessary planning approvals. Business owners who choose to build without permits, whether from necessity, greed or ignorance must be held accountable. Rule of law cannot be a one-way street where the state punishes only when politically expedient while tolerating lawlessness at other times. That said, the state also has a duty to ensure that enforcement is lawful, proportionate, and accompanied by humane mitigation measures (evacuation notices, temporary shelters, relocation plans, and compensation where appropriate). Bulldozing livelihoods at dawn, without adequate safeguards, is poor public policy even when the legal basis exists.
There is also an ugly political theatre surrounding the episode. Prominent Igbo leaders, including a former state governor whose career included his own demolition actions while in officebrushed to the scene to express outrage and hold press conferences. Their presence raises uncomfortable questions about consistency. If leaders who once oversaw enforcement (and who defended demolitions in their states) now decry similar action elsewhere, this looks like political posturing rather than principled advocacy. Hypocrisy undermines any genuine defense of traders’ rights. standing with the victims is noble. But, doing so only for optics while ignoring the record of your own administration is not. For clarity; several national figures visited the site to intervene and decry the exercise, and critics pointed out that some had presided over demolitions in their states.
Beyond personalities, the politics of ethnicity have dangerously coloured the narrative. When enforcement is perceived rightly or wrongly, to fall disproportionately on one community, trust in institutions collapses. The Lagos government insists the action was not tribal and framed the exercise as regulatory. Yet the optics of mass demolition at a hub with many southeastern traders, followed by a high-profile visit from Igbo leaders and emotive headlines, fuels suspicion and stokes division. The state must therefore do more than issue statements, it must make documentary evidence of notices, amnesty offers, permit records and communication timelines public to remove doubt. Transparency is the best inoculation against the politics of grievance.
Finally, this crisis exposes systemic failures that transcend Lagos and any single community:
A weak, reactive enforcement regime that allows illegal development to calcify into ‘facts on the ground’.
A lack of affordable, timely channels for traders to regularize property and building status.
Poor communication between authorities and commercial communities, compounded by opaque permit records.
Politicians who exploit incidents for partisan gain while offering no long-term solution.
If we want to prevent the Trade Fair story from repeating elsewhere in Lagos or in other states, here is a concrete road map for action that respects both the rule of law and human dignity:
Immediate transparency and documentation. Publish the demolition notices, amnesty records, correspondence and permit status for each affected structure. Let facts dispel rumours. (If the state issued multiple amnesty windows and warnings, show them.
An urgent, independent audit. Commission a neutral audit of the Trade Fair Complex’s planning history and approvals. The auditors should be drawn from civil society, professional bodies (architects, town planners) and federal oversight agencies. Findings must be public.
Compassionate enforcement protocol. Adopt a standard operating procedure for demolitions that mandates prior notice periods, mandatory relocation support or temporary stalls, medical/psychosocial aid and a clear compensation/appeal pathway for legitimate claimants.
Digitize and open the permit registry. A public, searchable online register of land titles, building permits and outstanding violations would make it far harder for illegal structures to be hidden or ignored.
Regularize where sensible. Where structures can be safely regularized, provide time-bound regularization windows with realistic fees and technical guidance, but pair them with strict penalties for non-compliance after the window closes.
Sanction collusion, reward compliance. Investigate any public officials or private actors who connived to regularize buildings illicitly; at the same time, create incentives for traders to comply (low-cost technical assistance, phased payments).
Depoliticize enforcement. Enforcement should be routine and consistent, not a response to headlines. Treating compliance as a civic duty, not as a political cudgel, will reduce accusations of bias.
The Trade Fair Complex demolitions are a policy failure dressed up as enforcement. The Lagos State Government must accept part of the blame for letting lawlessness grow. Those who built without approvals must accept responsibility too. True leadership would mean acknowledging systemic shortcomings, making a factual record public, and moving quickly to protect livelihoods while enforcing the law. Anything less will ensure that the next demolition produces the same headlines, the same outrage, and the same bitter pill of lost trust.
Temidayo Hassan, a lecturer and public analyst, writes from Ikorodu.
