By Clifford Agugoesi, Editor-in-Chief

The Lagos Motor Show(LMS), akin to the Chicago Motor Show, rounded off Saturday, February 17, 2024, at the Main Arena of the Tafawa Balewa Square(TBS) Onikan, Lagos, south west, Nigeria, with the Royal Media Group, organizers of the event, saying their passion for motoring led to the coming of the show.

The Royal Media Group Spoke through their Chairman, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, who doubles as the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria(ALTON). An elated Adebayo thanked the LMS stakeholders for gracing the occasion.

On the raison d’etre of the show, Engr. Adebayo said: “We are here today to witness what I call history. Because, who are a people without history?  And so we are telling this story by way of showing our passion for motoring.  Myself as a young undergraduate many years ago, wrote weekly articles on Motoring in Nigeria. And I wrote that for many years addressing  car of the future. And what we are seeing here today is a collection of cars before independence, cars at independence and cars of today. 

“So what we would see on display today tell the story of motoring from the 50s up to 2023.  And so, I just want thank everyone for coming.  To our VIPs,  I say a very big appreciation and thank you.  And to Chief  Olu Okeowo in particular,  I must offer immense gratitude. First is for opening his doors to me. And also for allowing us  have one of his most pristine personal collections today. He arrived quite early in the day and he has waited patiently  for His Majesty to come. So Chief Okeowo, I really thank you. Where we come from, sometimes they say we are Southerners, sometimes they say we are Northerners. But we have a saying there which goes as follows: What we are doing together, may it not go bad…  I want to welcome and thank my friend and brother, Barrister Chinedu Ebo  for compering the event  and for joining me as a promoter of the Lagos Motor Show. And to our Exhibitors and Sponsors, I cannot thank you enough; today will be nothing without your presence.

We are showcasing here quite a bit of work done by our people.  We have the LargeHouse who are restorers of landrovers .  All they do at the LargeHouse is to collect Landrover scraps  and to turn it into a car of the moment . As you do know, Landrovers, after 75 years  can no longer exist.  We have the modern technology of Electric Vehicles which are cars driven on batteries.  I am very happy one of the promoters is here.  He is very  hungry and assemblying them somewhere in Ikorodu.  These are cars of today.  I had the privilege of driving one myself and I know that really and truly energy efficiency is what makes the  future.

“ Today we shall also be seeing in our collections, the display of Electric Vehicles. We also have the people  who are motorsports enthusiasts.  We have some drifters.  What they do is swing the car right and left and I told them today that  His Majesty is here, that they should do it softly…Probably what  you see here  will be a 10 per cent of what they normally so with the cars.  We also have a motorsports company that is here with us..Some of the adventure cars that are being displayed here today have participated in Rallies.  One succeeded after making an accident and still won the Rally and he is here today.  So we are going to see that on our display.  And we have quite a bit of machinery that we will see as part of the collections here.  There is a man telling the story of Lagos; we call him Moving Lagos  and we have on display here motoring of Lagos here in the 50s how it used to be.  And then, we have the new car collections, some of them behaving like computers, some of them behaving like human beings, some of them behaving like robots. They are all here and we will be seeing them today. So mine is to thank you and to ask you to please, enjoy yourselves.  Thank you very much.”

The event was graced by distinguished personalities, including but not limited to, the Emir of Borgu, HRM, Mohammed Sanni Haliru Dantoro CFR, Kitoro IV(Mai Borgu, who also doubles as the LMS Patron, Founder and Chairman of Gibraltar Constructions Company limited, and  Car enthusiast, Chief Olu Okeowo, and foremost banker and car enthusiast, Benjamin Oviosu and media hounds.

-Additional reporting by Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West.