Biodun Esan, Ilorin
Kwara State Executive Council has approved that control and supervision of the Kwara Hotels should revert to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Technology (BIT) as it was before it came under Harmony Holdings Ltd.
The state Commissioner for Communication Hon Bode Towoju, who said this in a statement on Saturday in Ilorin the decision was
to save the hotels from its perennial crisis.
He also said it would prevent facility collapse and huge debts that have made the Kwara Hotels to default in salary payments to its workers.
This, Towoju said was contrary to the vision of establishing it, adding that the government has had to pay the workers, including the recent bailouts released this week.
“At the council meeting chaired by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Friday, the council approved that all assets, liabilities, structures, workers, and operations of the hotel be taken over by the BIT Ministry.
“The council approval followed deliberations on a memorandum presented by BIT Mallam Ibrahim Akaje.
“The Council also directed that Ministries of Finance and Planning and Economic Development should henceforth make budgetary provisions for the repositioning and rebranding of the hotel to realise the objectives of the founding fathers,” he said.
Towoju also said that the council approved that BIT Ministry should take charge of the Ilorin Cargo Terminal Limited.
It may be recalled that the once-successful the hotel was established by the administration of the late Brig-Gen David Bamigboye.
It was initially placed under the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, which has recently metamorphosed to BIT. It was last refurbished some 20 years ago.
The fortunes of the hotel have however nosedived over the past decade as its facilities collapsed amid mismanagement.
The pre-2019 debts of their he hotel was N500m, with low revenue generation, and inability to pay staff salary.
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