The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday lamented the poor attendance of exhibitors at the ongoing 28th Lagos International Trade Fair
Dr Michael Olawale-Cole, President, LCCI Trade Promotion Board, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that apart from Lagos, only Osun had a stand out of the states in the South-West.
Olawale-Cole said that the chamber expected more of the states in South-West to participate.
According to him, many of the states in the northern and eastern parts of the country usually do not attend because of the distance and transporting their goods.
He said that in this year’s edition, only Anambra and Enugu states came from the eastern part of the country.
Internationally, Olawale-Cole said that many African and Asian countries stayed away because of the scare of Ebola.
‘We have less than two per cent of Chinese participation at this year’s trade fair.
“We lost a lot of patronage due to Ebola scare,” the LCCI board member said.
He said that exhibitors from Ghana, Taiwan, Egypt and Japan, however, came for the fair.
Olawale-Cole, who did not disclose the amount lost as a result of the poor attendance, said that the chamber had not underperformed in ensuring the success of the fair.
He noted that what the LCCI lost in not having many Chinese participants, it gained in other areas like new participation of private businesses.
According to him, the fear of Ebola should not prevent exhibitors and visitors from coming to the fair because Nigeria has been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organisation.
Our country is safe from Ebola, so, our exhibitors and visitors are safe.
The presence of some foreign exhibitors at this fair is an attestation to this fact.
“We should not raise false alarm or create unnecessary panic,” he said.
Olawale-Cole said that the chamber did a lot to ensure a grand opening of the event because there was the fear that many participants would not show up on the first day.
