Lack of awareness, bane of Abuja International Trade Fair – Exhibitors
NAN-HE-15
Fair
By Lucy Nwachukwu
Abuja, Oct. 12, 2016 (NAN) Some exhibitors at the recently concluded 11th Abuja Trade Fair have attributed the low patronage by customers at the fair to lack of awareness.
A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent who spoke to a cross section of the exhibitors gathered that the attendance of customers to the fair was low compared to the previous years.
Mr Christian Okafor, a furniture maker, said he was enthusiastic about the fair and hopeful that it would bring him a lot of customers but he was disappointed at the attendance.
Okafor said,“ I made a lot of beautiful furniture, thinking that I will get a lot of customers to buy the them but to my dismay, I did not see up to 10 people at my stand.
“ Most of the people, who even came around, said they were not aware of the fair but stumbled over it and some even complained about the distance of the venue.
Miss Agatha Eta, a bead maker, said“ I have lots of unique and beautiful beads which I took time to make.
“ I had high hopes for this trade fair because I really needed money and thought I will get the chance to sell off most of my beads but I was not able to do that.
“I think if many people had come around, they would have seen my products and patronised me but it seems people are not aware of it.
“Also, the low attendance may be as a result of the present economic situation in the country. So many people barely get enough money to feed, let alone buy stuffs these days.
Another exhibitor, Mr Sule Atayi, a tailor, said the exhibition was not well planned as it was not well attended by many Nigerians.
Miss Doofan Peter, a customer, told NAN that she had not witnessed a fair like the current one. According to her, the place looked more like a market than a trade fair arena.
Peter said there were very few exhibitors and the number of customers who witnessed the fair was also very low.
However, the President, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Tony Ejinkeonye, told NAN that no matter the amount of awareness done on a particular product, it could never be enough.
Ejinkeonye said ,“We started awareness for this particular fair over a year ago through media houses but like you said the publicity is still not enough.
“We still need to do more both on the local and national levels; we still have a lot of work to do.
He said that considering the economic downturn, the turnout of exhibitors and visitors were impressive.
He explained that the number of exhibitors for this year reduced due to the theme of the fair which centred on products made in Nigeria.(NAN)
LCN/GOM/IA
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Edited by Gregory Mmaduakolam/Idris Abdulrahman