Trade Fair Complex: Perfume Vendors Protest Lattafa Plaza

Reviewed by Omotolani Ajileye

What started as a conversation about the authenticity of perfumes has now turned into an unusual dispute at the Lagos Trade Fair Complex, with perfume vendors protesting against the presence of Lattafa Plaza at the market.

Videos circulating on social media in recent days showed groups of perfume sellers gathered around the Lattafa outlet at the Trade Fair Complex, with protesters reportedly demanding that the store shut down in solidarity with other vendors affected by a recent National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) enforcement operation.

The development has sparked widespread reactions online, with many Nigerians questioning why traders would demand the closure of an outlet selling the same brand whose authenticity has become part of the ongoing conversation.

How the controversy started

The ongoing argument that now focuses on perfumery starts a couple of weeks before NAFDAC (National Food and Drug Administration and Control) raids the entire Trade Fair Complex. It begins a deeper conversation about original perfumes at the Trade Fair complex. 

Popular Nigerian food and lifestyle critic, Opeyemi Famakin, recently brought attention to the issue with perfume reviews that included discussing Lattafa perfumes and how individuals can identify original perfumes among questionable or false perfumes.

Nigerians who buy perfumes quickly joined in the discussion, comparing original perfumes with allegedly original perfumes found on the market.

Although widely shared, the argument is not evidence that NAFDAC initiated the raid because of famakin’s review.

Following that period, the two-day, August 26-27, enforcement operation by the NAFDAC Investigation and Enforcement Directorate, cosmetics division, was initiated at the Lagos Trade Fair Complex. The…