The Management of Odu’a Conglomerate Limited has been speaking about why it decided to shut down one of its three hospitality concerns called Lafia Hotel, located in Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State.
The news of the closure earlier filtered out through a press release signed by Victor Ayetoro, Head, Corporate Affairs of the group.
The action taken on Friday, June 29, 2018 became imperative following the directive of the Odu’a Board/Shareholders to put a stop to the recurring losses being incurred by the hotels in the group over time to salvage the legacy of the heritage bequeathed by our forebears.
The hotels have been struggling with inability to meet up with their financial obligations which include among others; backlog of workers’ salaries, huge debts to creditors, non-remittance of statutory commitments such as VAT, WHT utility bills.
Odu’a Investment Co. Ltd, the sole owner of the hotels had on many occasions come to the rescue of the hotels by releasing funds for renovation purposes and settling some of the outstanding hotel debts/statutory obligations which had been the experience in the past years without any significant improvement in the fortunes of the hotels.
Said the official release “With this new development, the general public is assured that all Third Party claims will be reviewed and sorted out appropriately.”
Lafia hotel is one of the hotels inaugurated by Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s government as a step to tap in the tourism economy together with the Premier Hotel and Lagos Airport Hotel. All the three are under the auspices of Odu’a Conglomerate and they all maintained the sanity of a prosperous hospitality concern.
Lafia Hotel was one of the best hotels in Nigeria in the 70s which was the only one fit enough to accommodate the then Head–of–State, General Yakubu Gowon who paid a visit to the Western State then.
Lafia Hotel has like other hospitality outfits been operating within the economic dictate and contemporary business climate overing in Nigeria. That is going from fair to good and for the better.
However, in the past four years, the hotel’s fortune has consistently slid from the good, to the fair and to the bad.
Hospitality watchers and observers who because of the patrimonial attachment to Odua’s property have been calling for cleaning or reformation of the hotel which has suffered from gross bad administration and the fostering of incompetent leadership.
Packaged by Dania Shuayb
