An investor in fast-food industry has appealed to the Lagos State Government (LASG) to tackle the menace of social miscreants (a.k.a area boys) and insecurity in Ikorodu Industrial Estate.
The Managing Director, Hi-Five Noodles Ltd., Mr Chukwudi  Uwazie,  made the appeal in Lagos, yesterday.
Uwazie told newsmen that ‘area boys’ were fond of extorting monies from truck drivers hired to transport raw materials to industries in Ikorodu Industrial Estate.
He said that this was affecting their capital outlay and they would be made to pay extra money not budgeted to the drivers.
He also decried the state of insecurity in Ikorodu area of the state and appealed to the various security agencies to intervene.
He said that the insecurity had impacted negatively on business transactions and discouraged more investors from investing their capital in the axis.
According to him, many investors were scared of Ikorodu axis following the activities of cultists known as Badoo which had claimed lives of some people in recent times.
”Most of the time, we have to go to the barracks to arrange for some security personnel to guard our facilities and personnel from being attacked by the cultists.
“Most of our customers now refused to come and transact business with our companies because of fear of attack.
“This situation has led to a reduction in business activities but increased the rate of unemployment,’’ Uwazie said.
He appealed to the state government to provide adequate security in Ikorodu and other industrial estates in the state.
This would encourage many investors and entrepreneurs to invest in the state, he said.
He also appealed to the government to give more attention to the poor infrastructure there.
He said some of the manufacturers that would have invested in the estate were running away due to bad roads and poor power supply.
The managing director, however, said Hi-Five Noodles Ltd., being wholly a Nigerian company, would continue to operate in the country.
”It sources all its raw materials from the country and its management had identified Nigeria as a veritable and a potential market for its product from its feasibility studies.’’
He said that its management discovered that producers of the existing brands of noodles had only covered a small percentage of the market in the country.
Uwazie said the company currently has a 300-permanent -staff strength and it hopes to increase it through expansion to other parts of the country.
He said that their products were of high nutritional values with no side effects to its consumers.
“Our products are sourced from natural plants and herbs, enriched with various types of vitamins and fibre contents as well as low sodium level.
“We do not add any reagents, no preservatives and no sugar to our products,’’ he said.