Wasted edifices
Gazing at what remains of the structure today, it is hard to believe that the Old Federal Secretariat, Ikoyi was a sightseer’s delight once upon a time. In the eighties, after taking in the grandeur of the Atlantic at the Bar Beach or the ambience of the National Theatre at Iganmu, there was one other sight to behold: the magnificence of the Secretariat complex sitting on prime land in the choicest part of Lagos.
That was then. Today, the structure is forlorn, desolate and dead. Lush weeds have gained a life of their own on its stripped, grey walls. It is also safe to imagine that all manner of crawling creatures and perhaps four-footed beasts call the edifice home. Blame also a fire which burnt the complex in March 2004. It was a mystery blaze said to have started from the very top of the building.
In time, Wale Babalakin, a lawyer and investor, saw gold mine, and acquired the edifice, intending to turn it into residential apartments. That would have brought him handsome dividends and helped to mop up accommodation deficits plaguing Lagosians. But litigations and squabbles soon set in, first between Babalakin’s firm Resort International Ltd and Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria , and then a spat with the Lagos State government over permits, among other things.
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