Enugu International Trade Fair flops as DG blames Presidential Election postponement

The Enugu Chamber of Commerce, In­dustries, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA) yes­terday, identified the shift in the date of the 2015 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commis­sion (INEC)

as a major fac­tor that affected the level of participation at the ongoing Enugu International Trade Fair.

In a chat at the fair ground, Wednesday, the Director General of the chamber, Sir Emeka Okereke, said, “the truth remains that the level of participation as at today would have been more than what it is. I know that some companies and organ­isations are still making effort to come.

“The change in date affect­ed their action plan particu­larly the foreign participants from Germany and Italy that had made arrangement to fea­ture from March 27 but are finding it difficult to make it to this fair now.

“Even our local participants, indigenous manufacturers and organisations are still getting approvals; some we have re­served space for and are com­ing in before the fair ends. I will say that it is not entirely the making of such organisa­tions or the making of the chamber but it’s all about the state of affairs in the country, particularly the elections that were deffered so every other thing had to cue in to salvage the situation.

“For us in the chamber, there wouldn’t have been bet­ter date we would have moved the fair than we have done be­cause our calculation remains that the elections would come up from March 28, and if we wait for the elections to be concluded, the dust that would be raised by the elections may last for one month or more and of course, you know we will be entering the rainy season.

“So it is better that we took the bold step and courage to hold the fair much earlier than we have scheduled than not holding it at all because our stakeholders wanted to know from us all about the date, whether the fair would hold or not, so I think we took a very appropriate decision of hold­ing it even though I agree it’s putting a lot of pressure on the organisers and our stakehold­ers/participants.”

Comparing this year’s fair with that of last year, Oker­eke said that last year was a landmark and the 25th edition, which is the Silver Jubilee that gave the fair a kind of atmo­sphere. “Last year, we didn’t have any distortion in terms of our original date; because INEC adjusted its election timetable, we had to also move our own two weeks ahead of time.