Five Years After; Where Is Lagos N8bn Sunburn Yacht?
Five years ago, the All Progressives Congress (APC) government in Lagos State told the public that it had taken a giant leap in tourism promotion in the State by acquiring a yacht, valued at about N8bn.
The now controversial yacht is an inshore boat hotel.
The Sunborn Yacht Hotel before it berthed in Nigeria, was operated and managed by the ISS Group, UK, with an undisputable signature for service excellence.
The Sunborn Yacht Hotel was Custom built in 1999 and refitted in the year 2002; it combines contemporary class and comfort being 18.4m wide, 106.5m in length and 17.6m in height from the sea level. The edifice with a total of six decks and an interior space of approximately 5000 sq.m will provide a breathtaking ambience for corporate guests, conference delegates, wedding parties and leisure guests to hold their exclusive events when operational.
However, as at today, no one can say precisely what has happened to the yacht and the N8 billion Lagos tax payers money that went into it.
The state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had recently accused the state government of corruption. It challenged the state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, to speak out on the whereabouts of the yacht and the two helicopters bought by his administration for security surveillance of the state.
The state Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Tunji Shelle, while addressing party faithful during the General Assembly of the chapter, had said, “After floating miserably on the Marina water for so long, the controversial Sunburn Yacht, which cost the Lagos State Government, under (former Governor) Bola Tinubu, a whooping N8 billion suddenly disappeared, only to be sighted at Thames in England.
Yesterday, the APC Lagos State Chapter, said the Lagos State Government had quit the Sunborn Yacht Hotel. The party said it was a bad business and the government had abandoned the deal.
The state Interim Publicity Secretary, Mr. Joe Igbokwe, said the state government took a bad business decision on the yacht and had done away with it.
He said, “Every successful investor or businessman will tell you that business is not a bed of roses. He knows business is not all about gains all the time; you gain in some and lose in some. It is the same with governments all over the world. No government anywhere in the world will tell you that it has achieved100 per cent success in every decision it has taken.
“The world will forgive you for taking decisions and making all the mistakes but the world will not forgive you if you do not take decisions at all for fear of failure. LASG has done away with the bad business called the Sunborn Yacht
project. Case rested.”
In November 2008, the Lagos State government through the then commissioner of tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, took delivery of the worth over 5 Billion Naira Sunborn Yacht, amidst pomp and pageantry.
Senator Afikuyomi while conducting Governor Babatunde Fashola round the Yacht when it arrived Nigeria in November 2008, said the floating hotel was the first of its kind in Africa, which would put the State and Nigeria in the league of the first five major cities of the world with similar hospitable facilities and tourism earnings capabilities, adding that the yacht came to Lagos to turn around the state’s fortune in tourism and hospitality services.
Five years after the state took delivery of the revered Yacht, the much anticipated gains and projections that would put the State and Nigeria in
the league of the first five major cities of the world with similar hospitable facilities and tourism earnings capabilities is yet to be seen.
Now, the question is: who orchestrated this 419 and who were the beneficiaries of this waste of public fund. This is certainly a fraud and Governor Babatunde Fashola must say something he knows about this fraud, failure which he remains an accessory after the fact in the fraud.
At a point, the Lagos State Government, in trying to cover up its culpability in the N8 billion yatch fraud denied any involvement in the purchase of the vessel brought from England and moored on Marina Beach Front since 2008.
At a press conference in Lagos, the commissioner for Tourism and Inter-
Governmental Relations, Mr. Disun Holloway, said the state government had never been involved in the purchase of the N8 billion Sunburn Yacht Hotel.
He said, “As you are also wondering about the disappearance of the Sunburn Yacht so is the Lagos State government. We have said repeatedly that the yacht does not belong to the Lagos State government and never invested in it.
“We heard that the Lagos State government had earlier asked the owners to move the yatch away from the shoreline for security reasons.”
However, the Lagos State government appeared to have forgotten what it told the public in 2008 when it announced its intention to bring the yatch to Lagos.
Then, it was widely reported that the State goverment, in collaboration with Diamond Captial Limited, the investment arm of Diamond Bank Plc was committing about 25 million euros to the floating hotel facility, due for delivery in the third quarter of 2008.
The deal was said to have been initiated by the Babatunde Fashola administration through its Ministry of Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations and bank rolled by Diamond Capital Ltd, the investment banking arm of Diamond Bank Plc and facilitated by MIDC Ltd and Westcom Ltd, two Nigerian venture capital advisory firms.
Speaking at the brief occasion of the Final Sales Contract Signing ceremony for the acquisition which has a Lagos based firm, Planet Project Ltd as Project managers and Consultants at the Board Room of Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, the then Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola at the event described the dream of the Fashola administration to acquire a heritage hotel such as the Sunborn Yacht Hotel as indicative of the administration’s desire to transform the tourism landscape in Nigeria and
assume sector leadership in Africa and beyond saying, “the Hotel we have just
acquired for Lagos with the support of Diamond Capital Ltd will be the first of its kind in Africa and indeed the Middle East and put us in the league of the first
five major cities of the world with similar hospitality facilities and tourism
earnings capabilities. This hospitality facility is the first that was custom built.
“So it is a piece of heritage that we are buying into.”
Afikuyomi, who further ascribed the success of the acquisition bid which saw Lagos beating the cities of Doha and Dubai respectively, two renown tourism destinations in the world, to the inspiring leadership of Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), his colleagues at the Water Front, Physical Planning, Justice, Environment, Works and Infrastructure Ministries respectively as well as the
encouraging efforts of the Special Adviser on Taxation and indeed the entire members of the Lagos State Cabinet who bought into the bold vision said, “but for their support, Lagos would not have been able to make this history as the quest by Dubai to acquire a QE2 Boat Hotel would have meant that the first Boat Hotel in the African Continent and the Middle East would have gone first to Dubai . But today, we have positioned Lagos on the world tourism map and the results would be self-evident for all to see”.
As at today, the question is still; where is the yatch and where is the N8 billion Lagosians’ fund?
Gov Babatunde Fashola

...8bn gone down the drain!Lagos,theater of the absurd...as for the south-west press,its a case of 'see no evil','hear no evil',of APC.

...8bn gone down the drain!Lagos,theater of the absurd...as for the south-west press,its a case of 'see no evil','hear no evil',of APC.So who is decieving who?

I saw it somewhere yesterday though i wouldn't tell you for fear of unknown

gratieao: I saw it somewhere yesterday though i wouldn't tell you for fear of unknown

sometimes its hard to Give a honest comment to some of the post on Nairaland,Firstly the Story is inconsistent cos you Started with the money generating From Tinubu Administration to Fashola and Later to Diamond Bank commiting the 25 million Euros which is not upto 6billion Naira.Secondly stop stipulating amount cos ur subject clearly States 8bn naira and thru ur write up i dont think the amount is even Close to 6bn naira.Thirdly I have been on the yacht though its was un-officially,i went onboard 2 yrs ago when it was parked at CMS axis,all i notice was lack of management,maintanence and also lack of publicity or colored advert for it.Fourthly Most Nigerians have phobia for the Sea,its not common seeing nigeria going for sea ride and stuffs,the only place u see lots of nigerians going for picnic is Takwa Bay. Am sure my fellow Nigerians and i are also interested in the Disappearance of the yacht but you dont have to write ludicrous post abt it,dont make everything abt Political parties