2 hours ago
1 ARTICLE AD
The Abia State Government has announced plans to increase its internally generated revenue by opening up investment opportunities in its hospitality industry.
The Director General, Aba Development Authority, Mr. Ukeje Uche, said the MoU is targeted at rehabilitating and upgrading the long-abandoned Enyimba Hotel Aba into a five-star hotel.
He spoke at a Memorandum of Understanding signing between the state government led by the state governor, Dr. Alex Otti, and the management of Radisson Blu in Lagos on Friday.
He said the facility which used to be owned by the Aba Chamber of Commerce and a group of core investors would be revived in the next 24 months and could need up to $25m to $50m to complete.
PUNCH Online reports that Otti disclosed plans to start the reconstruction of Enyimba Hotels Aba into a five-star hotel and a convention centre to make Aba one of the best cities in the country.
Otti repairing Abia after 24 years in wilderness—Obi of Onitsha
According to him, the hospitality sector is beginning to get more robust and getting more attention, maintaining that the 125-room hotel is expected to create up to 5000 job opportunities for citizens of the state.
“We also expect this would help the state to increase its internally generated revenue and have a more robust presence in the Nigerian conference and hospitality industry.
“At this point, we do not have the entire knowledge of how much it is going to cost, but however, the state government has made provisions for it to cost between $25m and $50m, but whatever it costs between that range, we have a commitment in our budget to fund the project and we intend to fund it,” he said.
Also speaking, the state Attorney General, Ikechukwu Uwanna, representing the governor, said the state will continue to build on the relationship with the original owners and ensure that the deal is firmed up well.
“We have a robust peaceful resolution system that has been built into the MoU which the governor has specifically approved before going into the deal. We know that there might be differences in the relationship, but we have a robust arrangement that will enable us to resolve whatever dispute that might arise from this pact.
“We also have an aggressive interest in ensuring that there are returns on investments and to make sure that the business is economically viable,” he added.
On his part, the Senior Director Development, Africa, Radisson Blu, Erwan Garnier, said Radisson Blu has been expanding in Africa since 2000, maintaining that Nigeria is one of the countries out of the 54 countries on the continent where it is focusing its expansion programmes.
“We have created a special strategy by targeting key cities and states for our expansion programmes and this is why we are partnering with the Abia state government.
“We looked at the Enyimba Hotel which has multiple benefits and we are very excited about this opportunity we also believe that with the right team, this project will achieve great success and benefit the people of the state,” Garnier said.
