What used to be a bubbly environment has in the past couple of months gradually turned a ghost town.
For those doing business within the vicinity of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos, the death of its founder, Prophet T.B Joshua has brought untold hardship on them.
This is because many of their businesses died along with the founder of the Church.
Many outlets including hotels, eateries, convenient stores and business centers have all closed shop.
This is due to the fact that many of their customers mostly foreigners who thronged the Church while T.B Joshua was alive for Spiritual Tourism no longer come around.
If some of them thought that the development was for a little while and that things would soon normalize after a few months of T.B Joshua”s death, they soon perished the thought when the matter got from bad to worse because of the delay in reopening the church following the controversies over succession which pitched late T.B Joshua”s wife, Helen, with some of the junior Pastors of SCOAN.
As it is, many of the hotel owners who hitherto smiled to the bank when the church was in full gear have put up their property for sale. Investigations reveal that many of the Hotel owners took loans from banks and the banks are on their necks over their inability to service the loans following the lull in business. Those not under heavy pressure to repay loans have put up their property for lease instead of outright sale.
Despite the reopening of the Church to normal worship a few months ago, the situation has failed to improve and the plight of the business owners remain what it is. This is because traffick has waned drastically at the once boisterous church.