8th November, 2010
Many youths who thronged the on-going Lagos International Trade Fair said on Sunday that middlemen have prevented them from making good money at the fair.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that middlemen collect huge sums from the exhibitors and pay them little.
Some of the youths who came from neighbouring states said that the trend was different from that of last year when one could negotiate directly with an exhibitor.
Mr. Ayo Akande, a student, who claimed to have come from Ondo State, said that “the high charges have made the foreign exhibitors to demand for fewer hands that they can pay.
“This has reduced the number of employment opportunities drastically when compared to 2009 trade fair.
“To worsen the situation, most of the middlemen had engaged many hands in advance to the detriment of those of us that came from outside Lagos.
“You can see that most of us that came from states are yet to secure jobs three days into the fair,’’ Akande said.
Miss Blessing Odion, who got an offer as a sales girl, said that most of the firms pay between N15,000 and N20,000 for the 10-day duration of the fair.
Mr. Udoh Akpan, a leader of a dance group, said that a dancer could get as much as N40,000 at the end of the fair.
“We decided to form group this year and coordinate ourselves properly.
“This has really given us an edge in terms of pricing. We are getting good bargain for our services unlike the previous years that we worked round the clock and got little.
“You know that dancing is very tedious and exhibitors from Asian countries engage our services because they want us to dance round the clock to attract customers,’’ Akpan said.
Mr. Godwin Cock, Sales Manager of Profectiv Venture, a firm into cosmetics, said that sales girls and dancers were engaged to attract visitors to the pavilions and showcase products.
“This trade fair has not come of age for visitors to locate exhibitors without been directed,†Cock said.