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As Confluence Beach Hotel rots away in Kogi State, stakeholders are calling on the state government to put it into use in view of the state’s dwindling revenue.
Kogi Confluence Beach Hotel, located along Ganaja Road, Lokoja, the state capital, was built by late Governor, Abubakar Audu to serve as a first class accommodation and tourists’ centre for guests within and outside the state.
Although, the hotel was started during the military era in the state, it was however completed and put to use under the administration of late Abubakar Audu.
Successive governments in the state, especially, the regime of former governor Ibrahim Idris, made efforts in constructing more structures in the place.
But these magnificent edifices, situated in a serene location along the confluence point of Rivers Niger and Benue are now rotting away instead of providing the needed hospitality services to the public.
A visit to the hotel which was once adjudged as one of the best in the whole of north central states can now best be described as a shadow of itself.
Checks by our correspondent indicate that the once vibrant hotel which had hosted various calibres of guests and events, is currently lying dormant in a pitiable condition.
It was learnt that the hotel flourished between 2004 and 2005. However, things began to change when the former governor Ibrahim Idris, changed the management of the hotel (Ikeja Hotel).
At the moment, there is no hospitality services being rendered at the hotel due to lack of political will by successive governments in the state to make the place functional.
Most of the facilities at the hotel are now in deplorable condition just as miscreants are said to have vandalized and made away with some of the valuable facilities at the hotels.
The first set of structures built at the hotel comprise 151 rooms and chalets, a reception hall, laundry, lobby, two conference halls, restaurant, swimming pool, a mosque and a basket ball pitch.
Former governor Ibrahim Idris also constructed another 100 rooms the hotel which has never been put to use even for a single day since the project was completed by the contractor.
Our reporters who visited the hotel observed that the swimming pool, basketball pitch, wildlife park and one of the conference halls, amongst other facilities in the hotel are in terrible state while some of the rooms submerged by flood sometimes ago have been abandoned.
Besides, furnitures in some of the rooms and chalets are in deplorable shape, especially those affected by flood.
Cobwebs have covered most of the rooms while the environment is overgrown with weeds, indication that all is not well with the once flourishing hotel.
Some of the rooms and chalets, the basketball pitch and the swimming pool have been taken over by weeds due to lack of maintenance.
At the moment, a conference hall at the hotel which has capacity for about 3,000 people also in a pitiable condition as the roof and ceilings are now blown off.
The hotel which is capable of generating handsome revenue for the state if made functional and properly maintained, has however been abandoned.
Observers are of the views that the present administration in its drive to boost internally generated revenue in view of the dwindling federal allocations, should find a way of reviving the moribund hotel as a revenue spinner.
According to observers, government could make the place functional by overhauling facilities at the hotel and by ensuring that all government sponsored events, programmes/guests are hosted in the place as a way of helping to boost its revenue base.
A public commentator and human rights activist, Comrade Abdul Idris Miliki, said the concept of the hotel from the on was unique and thus received a lot of patronage from within and outside the state.
“Then, institutions, individuals and groups were coming to the hotel. Most of the organizations like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) were holding seminars and staff training there, civil society and other non- governmental organizations were also holding seminars and workshops. Government activities both state and local government were taking place there. It was so because it was built in chalet form and well managed,” he said.
He attributed the downward trend of the hotel to lack of continuity, partisan politics and interest, saying that former governor Ibrahim Idris who took over from the late Audu felt that there was no need to develop the hotel and
continue with the fame the hotel was known for before becoming the governor of the state.
“In the first four years of his administration, they took it away from Ikeja Hotel who were managing it and leased it out to another firm. After giving it out to a new manager, they were still making money but were not maintaining it hence the hotel has become a disaster for the state. People laugh at you whenever you say you are going to Confluence Beach Hotel,” he said.
Miliki blamed the immediate past administration of governor Idris Wada for wasting government resources in embarking on another hotel project in the state capital instead of revamping the already existing Confluence Beach Hotel.
He wondered why the state government could afford to fritter away a golden opportunity of creating employments and generate revenue from the hotel.
The rights activist called on the present government to either get a private investor that will run the hotel through Public Private Partnership to bring back its lost glory or should outrightly sell it, adding government has no business running hotels.
When contacted, Special Adviser to Governor Bello on Culture and Tourism, Mr Ibrahim Usman, said the present administration is concerned about the hotel and that efforts are on to bring in investors to run the hotel.
“We are looking at branded investors who have both financial muscles and knowledge of the industry. We have talked to a couple of people in Dubai already and we have other people who are interested. It’s going to be a cocktail of all people who have interest and at the end, we will be able to choose the best from them,” he said.
Credit: Itodo Daniel Sule, Daily Trust
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