On a fateful Saturday, this reporter visited the magnificent Kwara Hotel in Ilorin. Once the most sought-after location for hospitality in the whole of Northern Nigeria, the facility is now in a state of desolation and obviously has a weary look.
Nothing has changed. The spacious parking lots, the gigantic nature of the facility, and state-like aesthetic features still hold the impression of heritage and a well-thought-out architectural plan of the hotel, which was founded in 1975 by the administration of Brigadier General David Bamigboye.
At about 8:48 a.m., the main gate of the hotel remained locked, and a few people were seen loitering around the second gate, which mainly serves as the entrance for the owners of shops located within the facility.
“They are yet to open this gate. This hotel has been closed since last year. It’s not working. The only thing working here are the shops,” someone standing by the second gate who didn’t give his name told this reporter.
In October 2022, the Kwara State government under Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq ordered the closure of the Kwara Hotel, Ilorin. Among many other things, the government claimed that the closure would pave the way for rehabilitation and repositioning of the facility.
Before it was shut down, the edifice had become a shadow of itself with a section becoming dilapidated and totally unusable.
Once a toast to tourists and a reference point for hospitality services, the hotel would go on to lose its essence due to negligence, lack of proper funding and poor management.
The administration of Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq claimed that the 172-room facility hotel had below 20% of its room capacity functioning when it came on board in 2019.
While it announced the closure in 2022, the Kwara State Executive Council also approved that the control and supervision of the hotel be reverted to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology (BIT) as it was before it came under Harmony Holdings Ltd.
Earlier, workers in the hotel had protested the non-payment of their seven-month salaries. The government later intervened in the payment of the arrears after the protest.
The council also directed the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to make budgetary provisions for the repositioning of the hotel.
According to the Informant247 findings, a total amount of N300m was budgeted for the rehabilitation of the Hotel in the 2023 fiscal policy.
This amount represents a stark disparity of what Harmony Holdings claimed the Hotel would need for revival.
Harmony Holdings who were formerly in charge had said that it would require an investment of at least N2 billion to restore the facility.
The present administration claimed that it inherited most of the challenges facing the hotel from the previous administration.
It noted that there were huge liabilities running into over N500 million inherited by the management and the government arising from the mismanagement of the hotel under the previous administration.
The hotel had defied interventions to turn it around. Experts believe that the political solutions that were offered have failed to address the major issue affecting the facility.
Speaking about the closure of the hotel, a chartered accountant and a financial expert, Ismail Babatunde Yunus said it’s appalling that the facility which was once a significant asset to the state is now lying in waste.
“The government has lost a huge amount of revenue due to the closure of the hotel. Its value is lying to waste,” he said.
He argued that the government would have engaged the service of an independent auditor to investigate both the financial and non-financial operational activity of the hotel and the outcome of the exercise will help the government on what to do.
“By the time the government will reopen the place, the value would have reduced drastically. The hotel has a lot of potential but the successive government has failed to invest in the facility,” he added.
Private sector investment and failed experiments
Over the years, there have been interventions from private investors to do a turnaround of the hotel, but all to futility.
Successive governments in the state have brought in private investors to change the face of the hotel, but this has proven to be a failed experiment due to the short span of most of the deals.
Speaking about the involvement of private investors in hospitality management, Edward Akerele, a hospitality industry player said that the government needs to create a conducive environment for private investors to run the hotel professionally.
“We have had several private sector interventions to turn the hotel around in the past but all has proved abortive,” he said.
Stressing that it is a general phenomenon that the government has failed in doing hospitality business, he noted that one of the major issues is that private investors do not have confidence in the process of managing government facilities.
“One of the major problems is that private investors are always concerned with the instability and inconsistency of the government – if they work with one government, another one may decide to work with another person and this is a big issue.
“The government needs to look in the direction of branding. If the hotel has to move forward. The private sector should be brought in because government intervention can’t help.”
Akerele said one of the ripple effects of the closure is that many have been rendered jobless. While the government claimed to have redeployed some workers of the hotel to the ministry, he noted that there are other business owners and auxiliary services providers who have lost their means of livelihood since the place was closed down.
A tourist guide, Omotosho Akeem said that the closure of the hotel has had an adverse effect on the economy of the state.
“The closure of the hotel has contributed negatively to the economy of the state and the tourism sector is also greatly affected. The government needs to do something about it,” he said.
I can’t speak now – Ministry’s Permanent Secretary
When contacted to know what the government is doing to change the situation of the hotel, the Permanent Secretary of the Kwara State Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology, Habibat Saliman Saidu said she can’t grant an interview about the facility.
“I can’t speak on the issue of Kwara Hotel now. You have to give me like a week before I can say anything because some good news is about to happen, but I can’t say anything for now.”
