By Olufemi Oni, 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 decision, according to the Commissioner for Communication, Hon. Bode Towoju, is to save the hotels from its perennial crisis, including facility collapse and huge debts that have made the Kwara Hotels to default in salary payments to its workers.
“Contrary to the vision of establishing it, the government has had to pay the workers, including the recent bailouts released this week,” Towoju said.
He said: “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.
“The council similarly approved that BIT Ministry should take charge of the Ilorin Cargo Terminal Limited.
“The once-successful Kwara Hotel, which was established by the administration of the late Brigadier General David Bamigboye, 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, pre-2019 debts to the tune of N500m, low revenue generation, and inability to pay staff salary.”
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