Lagos Island Business District was the toast of blue chip companies and other small and medium-scale business enterprises prior to the relocation of the seat of the Federal Government to Abuja in 1992. Shortly before this relocation, however,  this beautiful island where high-rise buildings competed for visibility was turned into a haven for miscreants and layabouts popularly called “Area Boys or Alayes”. 

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These Area Boys  harassed and often extorted money from hapless civil servants and businessmen who were usually their victims. Apart from the activities of these street urchins, hawking and the mad display of wares along the main roads impeded free-flow of traffic in the area.

The situation became so bad that investors moved out of the CBD in droves. While some of them went with civil servants to Abuja, others relocated to the highbrow Victoria Island and Ikoyi, while those who could not afford the huge rents charged moved their offices to the mainland areas of Surulere and Ikeja. Even spare parts dealers at Idumota who could no loner tolerate the extortion of area boys built an ultra modern spare parts market at the International Trade Fair Complex.

Other associations like the Balogun Business Association also followed in relocating to the Trade Fair Complex. In fact, things became so bad that most high-rise buildings were unoccupied for years as all the tenants packed out.

Worried by the development, property owners in the Island under the umbrella of Association of Building Owners in Lagos Island (ABOLI) launched a vigorous campaign to stop the degrading of the Island. The Association later widened its scope and changed its name to Lagos Island Millennium Group on the Environment (LIMGE). The Group made several representations to the government to stop street trading, check the activities of the area boys as well as rehabilitate the existing roads network which had become almost impassable. But their pleas appeared to fall on deaf ears until towards the end of the Tinubu administration when the State flagged off the reconstruction of the popular business district.

On assuming office on May 29, 2007, Governor Babatunde Fashola saw the need to give the redevelopment of Lagos Island priority attention and his government has since then given the dreaded business district such a face-lift that it has once agin become the toast of all types of investors.

This much was stated by the immediate past president of the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), Nigeria chapter, Mr Stephen Jagun. Mr Jagun who is also a former Secretary of the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) explained that the reconstruction and beautification of Lagos Island has impacted positively on the area and investors who ran away from the CBD have begun to retrace their steps. As a result of this development, the Island which witnessed a glut of unoccupied properties is beginning to boom again.

“I commend very seriously, what the Lagos State government is doing now, beautifying the state.

Lagos is more beautiful, aesthetically better and by the time this is entrenched in the system in Lagos, it will improve the value of the properties we have. Lagos will become more attractive because, right  now, you are sure that we have standards and better things in place, the city will become attractive, not just a growing junk. Continuing, Mr jagun noted that the dreaded slum

Ajegunle can be transformed to look almost like Victoria Island if we maintain and make the place beautiful. “But, you see, because of our orientation, people think that flower is a waste; but it is not a waste. It is just because the Governor has a sense of direction about what he wants to do. People will now be considering the amount he has spent but if you compare the amount he has spent with the expected rise in value for Lagos, it is more than worth it,” he said.

Also lauding the beautification efforts embarked upon by Governor Fashola, a conservationist, Prof Emmanuel Obot said the inscription of names on the trees aids learning. Prof Obot who is the Executive Director of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) declared: “The Governor of Lagos State is quite conscious of the events in Lagos and is working very seriously towards improving the landscape of Lagos The ongoing beautification in Lagos is a wonderful strategy because from there on, children will learn.

Look at a simple thing like putting names on the trees on the streets. Simple as it looks, but people are beginning to say, 'Oh! Is that the name of that tree?' That, in itself, is the beginning of consciousness; making people more conscious of the trees around them and all the jingles about Lagos, Eko Oni Baje and all that, makes for hope that the Governor is conscious”.