Abia seeks improved IGR from hospitality sector

…signs MoU with Radisson on Enyimba Hotel management

… to create 5,500 direct and indirect jobs

The Abia State government is seeking to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from its hospitality sector as the state moves to revive Enyimba Hotel into a five-star edifice.

The state has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Radisson Blu Group on the management of the hotel when fully rehabilitated and operational.

The move will help Abia drive its economic growth, boost its IGR and give Abia a robust presence in the Nigerian hospitality industry.

Uche Ukeje, director general of Greater Aba Development Authority at the MoU signing in Lagos on Friday, said Governor Otti had promised to revamp the Enyimba Hotel as part of his broader plan of ensuring that hospitality is part and parcel of Aba city.

Ukeje said the MoU aims to make Aba a modern city that possesses the qualities of human development through the presence of an international hotel.

“The plan is to have a 250-room hotel at the end of the project. However, we will start with a 155-room hotel,” he explained.

According to him, Enyimba Hotel used to be an iconic edifice in Aba 20 years ago but due to a lack of efficient management, became an abandoned property.

Erwan Garnier, senior director of Development Africa for Radisson Blu, said Nigeria is a top priority of expansion for Radisson in Africa, hence its interest in reforming the abandoned hotel into an international brand under the Radisson brand.

“Radisson has been expanding in Nigeria since 2000 and Nigeria is one of the four countries out of the 54 countries in Africa where we focus our expansion,” Garnier noted.

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“When you look at our expansion plan, today we have 13 hotels in Nigeria and we plan to expand to 25 hotels by 2025,” he added.

Garnier said Radisson has identified key cities in the country which includes Aba, noting that “this is why we are partnering with Abia State.”

He explained that it is the custom of the group to look for existing properties before transforming them into internationally acclaimed buildings through the presence of Radisson Blu Hotels.

“We often look at existing properties, in this case, Enyimba Hotel, which have multiple benefits. It is a hotel that was built a long time ago in a prime location and that is often very difficult to access today not just because of availability, but also due to costs of buying lands,” Garnier said.

He further said that converting existing properties like the Enyimba Hotel allows the Radisson Group, the owners, and the state to have a product in the market much faster.

Similarly, Ikechukwu Uwanna, attorney general of Abia State, who represented the governor, said all documentation with the Enyimba International Hotel Group has been sorted.

“Also, we had to engage the Radisson Blu Group in the past few weeks. We’ve taken time to go through the agreements and ensure that the contract is in the mutually beneficial interests of the Abia government and the Radisson Group,” he stated.

Uwanna noted that the governor’s experience as an investor in the banking sector as well as the hospitality space is a driving force for the historical partnership under his leadership.

According to Philip Ekwempu, the managing director of Aba Investment Limited, through this partnership, over 500 direct jobs will be created and more than 5,000 indirect jobs will be made available for both indigenes and non-indigenes.

Also, he explained that the completion of the project will take about 24 months before the doors of the new Radisson Hotel will be opened for guests.

On how much the project will cost the state, Ekwempu noted that the project will cost about $15 to $25 million, adding that, “we don’t have specific numbers, however, it should cost within that range.”