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Tag: Hotels

  • A Devastating Flood Submerges Houses, Roads, Hotels, Churches In Kogi

    A Devastating Flood Submerges Houses, Roads, Hotels, Churches In Kogi

    From Noah Ocheni, Lokoja

    A Devastating Flood which look like a recantation of the 2012 flood has again rendered thousands homeless as houses were submerges and major roads leading to the eastern flank of the country has been taken over by flood.

    On Sunday it was discovered that one of the major road, old market road and Ganaja-Ajaokuta road have been submerged by River Niger.

    Initially, trucks and Hilux vans were the only vehicles that were taking the risks of manoeuvring through the submerged roads but the story has changed over the night as no vehicular movement noticed today ( Monday) except through the 500 housing units.

    Many passengers were stranded while those who could not wait had no option than to join canoe to cross to the other side of the road and then took commercial motorcycles to the motor park in continuation of their journey.

    At Adakolo Estate and Adankolo Extension, many houses have been deserted by owners as they have moved to safer place.

    Some residents who spoke with our correspondent lamented that they don’t have any place to relocate to as they still manage to sleep in their flooded houses while others relocated back to the village untill  situation improves.

    Meanwhile, the Managing Director Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, has appealed to Kogi State government to upscale its awareness and enlightenment campaigns to riverine communities to educate them in strategies to avert or minimise effects of floods.

    Managing Director of the Commission, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, who made the call at the flag-off of distribution of relief materials to flood victims over the weekend in Koton-Karfe said the people needed technical information on the menace.

    Yelwa said perennial flooding of the riverine communities with the attendant loss of means if livelihood was assuming an alarming proportion.

    He said that since communities were not needing warnings like, “Don’t build on water channels or flood planes, avoid blockage of drainages that can aggravate the effect of flood, the best option would be to avail them technical information on this to avert or minimise the natural disaster.”

    Represented by Alhaji Jimoh Haruna Gabi, Director, Finance and Administration in the Commission, the Managing Director said, “This advice became necessary because of the frequency of this flood in our communities.

    “Today, we have brought in here relief materials that represent a widow’s mite of the commission. It is not as if we can really feed everybody but we have shown kind gesture to everybody.”

    The Managing Director, however, expressed appreciation to Governor Yahaya Bello for always being there for the Commission adding that in all the programmes of HYPPADEC the governor “has never failed us.”

    At the Koton-Karfe Centre, 51 household victims from Kogi Local Government Area, Bassa and Lokoja Local Government Areas out of the 113 victims from the 10 affected the three councils received palliatives.

    The relief materials include mattresses, rice, millet, beans, noodles, detergents as well as a medical outreach to address diseases and ailments arising from the effects of the flood which has consistently devastated the communities in the last two weeks. 

  • Tourism: A’Ibom registers 2,000 Hotels, to conduct safety training for hospitality managers

    Tourism: A’Ibom registers 2,000 Hotels, to conduct safety training for hospitality managers

    More than 2000 hotels have been registered by the Akwa Ibom State government in a renewed bid to streamline hospitality business and ensure the safety of tourists in the state.

    Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in the state, Mr Orman Esin made this known on Thursday at a two day “Hotel Managers” conference organized by a Lagos based hospitality form, Tojun Hospitality in Uyo.

    Esin charged participant to establish a feedback mechanism for development and improvement of Hotels and their operations in Nigeria while government establish regulations to curb substandard service delivery and non professionalism.

    ” This conference is indeed very timely and I wish to commend the Organizers for carefully selecting the theme of the conference as this are critical factors to building of a profile performance work culture and ensuring measurable revenue generation is achieved for the sustenance of the hotel business”

    ” There is dire need to address the basic tenets of Hotel Sales which is key to ensuring efficient management and sustainability of the Hotel as well as introduce new innovation to ensure that best and standards in our hotels are kept”

    In a goodwill message, Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Hotels Management and Tourism Board Mr Ini Akpabio said experience acquired at the conference would place Hotel Managers on a higher pedestal for service delivery.

    Akpabio regretted that some investors in the hospitality industry claim to be more knowledgeable in hospitality rather than recruiting and training managers to become professionals .

    “Hotel investors now claim to be well experienced Hotel Managers . Once he has money to establish a hotel, he feels he knows the best to do in hospitality business and throw all sanity and professionalism to the dogs.

    ” For the fact that you invest in a Hotel business does not qualify you to be a professional . Therefore both the investors and Managers need some certification to perform in line with International standard and best practice obtainable in the hospitality industry.” He explained.

    The chairman said the Board would soon commence the training of hotel managers in the state to meet with International standard and procedures in hospitality sector.

    ” Guidelines will be handed out to Hotel Manager as operations manual in the state to qualify Akwa Ibom as a destination point for tourists.”

    Convener of the conference and Team Lead ” Tojum Hospitality”, Mr Olugbenga Sunday said the conference was the third in it’s series with resource persons drawn from Academia, Hospitality and Tourism Industries and involved participants from Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, United Kingdom and other parts of the world.

    “There is a big gap between International hospitality brands and Indigenous brands both in administrative and general operations standard.

    “Hotel Managers Conference is a platform where Hotel managers , owners , Managing Directors , Consultants , General Managers and Head of Departments are privileged to meet with Hospitality Experts with Global Relevance and draw timely knowledge for professional exploit.” He said

  • Wike Orders Task Force To Demolish Hotels Operating during Lockdown

    Wike Orders Task Force To Demolish Hotels Operating during Lockdown

    The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has directed officials of the Local Government Task Force to identify hotels operating during the lockdown for demolition, following the spread on the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

    Governor Wike gave the directive on Thursday while inaugurating the Rivers State COVID-19 Local Government Task Force at the Government House in Port Harcourt.

    He also charged the officials to identify erring beer parlours.

    “From tomorrow, move into any hotel that is operating, identify it and we will bring down the hotels.

    “I have the political will. Those people who disobey will face the consequences.”

    Governor Wike said that the officials must be decisive to ensure that the virus is not accommodated in the state, adding that they are being drafted to fight an invisible killer as well as defend the state.

    “Nobody should come from outside to compound our problems and import this invisible killer. We will not accept that”.

    Governor Wike appealed to the residents of the state to sacrifice their time in the fight against the pandemic, emphasising that all hands must be on deck.

    “We should not allow what is happening to continue, we don’t have the capacity to face it and there will be no support from any quarter,” he said.

    The Governor informed members of the Rivers State COVID-19 Local Governments Task Force that they will be on the payroll of the State Government.

    He said that the Task Force will enforce key aspects of the State Government’s directive on COVID-19 in all the Local Government Areas.

    He also instructed that hotels with existing guests should send their lists to his office for scrutiny and approval.

  • Lockdown: Hotels close shop in Port Harcourt

    Lockdown: Hotels close shop in Port Harcourt

    Some hotels in Port Harcourt have closed shop, following the outbreak of Coronavirus which has resulted in lockdown in Rivers.
    Visits by a Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to some parts of the city on Tuesday showed that many hotels were under lock and key.
    NAN recalls that the outbreak of COVID-19 in the state had resulted in closure of markets, schools, drinking joints, air traffic as well as the state borders.
    When NAN visited Echelon Height Hotel on Elekohia Road, which used to be a beehive of activities, it was firmed locked, with only security men seen manning the entrance.
    Other hotels in the city were also not open for business, while the usual hustle and bustle around them had vanished.
    Also, the ever-busy Presidential Hotel, which used to play host to different categories of guests and events, was enveloped with unusual calm, as no activity was taking place there.
    NAN also observed that the few hotels, which opened for business, witnessed low patronage, as their bars and swimming pools were without customers.
    A Port Harcourt-based economist, Mr Ugochukwu Nyenke, said that the outbreak of COVID-19 had been taking its toll on the hotel business in the state capital.
    According to him, the closure of borders and the ban on inter-state movement were negative signals to the hospitality industry.
    “The implication is that people will not come to the city, while those in the city have remained in their homes. And so, people will hardly need accommodation in any hotel.
    “The clubs and bars are places that require close contacts, and this is really not an auspicious time for such businesses to boom,” he said. (NAN)