Oyo Govt re-awards remodelling of Agbowo shopping complex for N10bn

By Moyosore Salami

The Oyo state executive council, on Friday, reawarded the contract for the remodelling of Agbowo Shopping Complex to Plant Projects.

The shopping complex will include a 4-star hotel, the anchor store, cinema building, event centre/casino and a restaurant through a direct contract model awarded to Messrs Planet Projects, according to details of the council’s approval.

The contract duration, according to Oyo government, is 18 months at the sum of N10.1 billion to be funded by a project specific 7-year medium term bond of N8.5 billion.

The Makinde-led government said the bond is to be raised by Messrs SCM Capital Ltd who will provide bridge finance of N4.25 billion to the contractor to be refunded from the proceeds of the N8.5 billion bond.

Agbowo Shopping Complex was the brainchild of the then military governor of the Western Region of Nigeria, General David Jemibewon, and constructed on over 30-plots of land in 1983 by the Bola Ige administration of the old Oyo State.

The Shopping complex was commissioned in 1984 by the Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari.

When the shopping complex became underutilised, in 2012, the state Housing Corporation removed electricity and withdrew the security men, cleaners, gardeners and other service hands. The beauty of the shopping complex faded and the sprawling estate became a den of hoodlums. Beggars and mentally challenged people also made the complex their home until September 2020, when Governor Makinde flagged off its renovation and remodeling.

In 2020, Governor Makinde leased the popular Agbowo Shopping complex in Ibadan to Whitestone Global Limited for 50 years. The lease arrangement was to see the massive edifice, which was once an economic hub in the state capital, renovated, reconstructed, and remodelled.