- Safiu Kehinde
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu , has hailed the much-anticipated Lagos Shopping Festival (LSF), which ended at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, at 4am on Thursday.
The Governor, according to a statement issued on Saturday by the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, was full of praise for the event organisers, Chain Reactions Africa Ltd.
He commended the Public Relations Consulting Firm for giving Lagos State another pillar upon which a solid festival economy is being erected.
Sanwo-Olu noted that the state is building a festival economy with the 3-day shopping festival serving as a strategic pillar.
“We are gradually building a festival economy for our great State. This idea of a 72-hour shopping festival is another strategic pillar on which the full edifice of a festival economy at Yuletide can rest.” He said.
The Governor noted with satisfaction how thousands of young people were gainfully engaged within the event management and commercial value chain of the Lagos Shopping Festival around design, set-up of the stage set, the sound system, the lighting system, crowd control, the volunteer network, ambience branding, and exhibition booth installation, to mention but a few.
He also appreciated officials of Lagos Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the security and safety agencies who worked round the clock at the first-of-its-kind festival in Africa, pointing out that the fact that the 72-hour non-stop shopping and entertainment event was concluded without any hitch or medical emergency was a testament to the excellent organisational skills of the organisers and the roles of the State agencies as enablers.
The Governor said this maiden edition was about strategic scaling and optimisation of small businesses, connecting shoppers with Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs).
He further extended his gratitude to some of the leading brands – Tolaram Group, Guinness Nigeria, Zenith Bank, and First Bank – for rallying corporate sponsorship for the successful hosting of the maiden edition of the festival.