Unemadu:

I think they still stop over at kano

If they stop over at Kano, nothing stops them informing their customers. Before now i used to see Enugu-Kano when booking online but now it is Enugu-Addis Ababa. Pls check yourself and tell me your observation.

IGBOSON1:

^^^You sure this wasn't when Ethiopian started last year? Any date attached to the article?

Just check yourself, it is now 4 times and direct flight to Enugu according to the online booking. Seems people ran away from them that prompted them to resume direct flight to Enugu.

Guys I just checked and it seems Ethiopian Airline has resumed direct flight to Addis Ababa. No more stoppage at Kano Airport.

Please what's the meaning of this? I got it from Ethiopian airline website.

"Enugu will become the Star Alliance member’s third Nigerian destination with the major African airline and flag carrier for Ethiopia already serving Abuja five times weekly, and Lagos, daily.

Ethiopian Airlines operates the new service using 737-800s and has no competition on the 3,455-kilometre sector.

The historic flight marked the start of Enugu Airport’s international services, and is part of its transition to become an international airport in which it has undergone a three phase renovation and expansion program. Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian, said: “Enugu is another exciting step. Nigeria has always been, and continues to be, one of our important destinations in West Africa. We thank the people and the government of Nigeria for their continued support in making this new service to Enugu possible."

spyder880: LEGACY ETERNAL

The monument of His Royal Highness, Chief Dr. Edward Nnaji. Odezuluigbo II of Enugu state.

Please how come Igwe Edward Nnaji is wearing hausa babanriga?

chy101: What is this one yapping?

Anambra has the best road network traversing all corners of the state and not just the urban centers. Anambra has the best health and educational facilities east of the Niger. I am not here to boast but am responding to your most silly assertions. Anambra has the highest population in the SE that is enough to answer your question on where people wants to live and earn their living. Even some housing stock in some rural areas of Anambra beats what one can find in some choice areas of Enugu urban not to talk of major urban centers. Anambra by the virtue of Onitsha is the only cosmopolitan state east of Niger. Okada is fast disappearing in Anambra as Keke is fast taking its place. Anambra is building 3 malls and 2 five star hotels, its a feat that no state around has achieved.

Anambra has some of the best infrastructural developments around. You need to travel beyond the major cities to better appreciate how the infrastructures are spread. Unlike Enugu state where infrastructures are only centered on urban center..just travel few meters outside Enugu urban then you will weep for Enugu state.

I was in Enugu recently and I took some pictures, I will not want to spoil this thread with those pictures though. You can never compare Sullivan to Obi, because Obi beats Sullivan hands down when it comes to overall development: education, health, infrastructure, security, industrialization etc.

Enugu has not grown beyond the present enugu urban since its creation despite being the former eastern capital. Nsukka which is supposed to be the 2nd town is grossly messed. I still wonder what people are praising Sullivan for, because he only resurfaced exiting roads and it is only within the single urban center. I will post the pictures I took in the Enugu to prove my point. I was at the Garriki then to Agbani road and parts of GRA, the roads are already giving way due to substandard construction. I saw the shabby stuff he was building as a state secretariat, even the one in Anambra beats it 1000x hands down.

In my assessment I will score Sullivan 4% because he only attended to urban roads. He scored zero on the following areas: rural devt, education, health, industrialization, job creation. etc. Enugu is just NL hype, don't make me post the pictures I took few days ago in Enugu. I was most disappointed when I got into enugu as everywhere was red due to the soil and damaged roads. Even the roads he constructed 2 years ago are already spoiling.

[s][/s]

The road from Enugu to Opi Nsukka is not urban road. The road from Akegbe Ugwu to Ihe, about 50km is not urban road. The road from Ozalla to Udi is not urban road. The road that traversed Orji River and stopped at the boundary between Enugu and Anambra is not urban road. There are so many that I cannot remember. If i were in Enugu I would have taken my time to take the pictures of all the rural roads done under Sullivan, so you can see. In this thread there is no propanda of any sought. It is just an insult to compare Sullivan with Peter Obi. How many private businesses has Sullivan since he became governor. Please name one. I am a million percent sure u do not know what you are saying. Don't forget that before Sullivan came into office, 80% of the roads in Enugu town were in bad condition. Sullivan did not just repair those roads but made some dual carriageway. I have always tried to avoid comparing one Igbo state with the other because such comparison does not edify anyone, it only brings discord. Please do not compare Sullivan and Peter Obi.

tandj: Until u go to Aba, one will never know d economic impact these guys make in d east(not yet talking about onitsha or nnewi etc).
Honestly if I had known, I will snap pictures of guys sewing clothes and shoes.
When asked how they make ends meet, they said there are those they do for exportation tp dubai(my mouth is still open)and other foreign countries.

Then there r ones for local consumption,
For special order too(very costly).

Likewise clothes. U will be amazed some of them are graduates from reputable institutions.

Yet we don't have sea port.

Maybe some of them are here.
I use this mediun to applaud u guys.
Una too much. Highly creative people.
Unless u are lazy, hunger won't kill u in igboland.
God bless u all.

We only ask for only what govt provides and leave the rest to our people.

The electricity in my town was brought in solely by my people(no govt help).
D biggest general hospital there built by one particular age grade. Road mentainance done by home folks. Name them, even when transformer blow, somebody will voluntarily buy a new one.
I lv d igbo spirit.

U r right. As an undergraduate, all my shirts were made in Aba.

eaglechild:

Asides that I think some of them actually underquoted their bills to secure the contracts.

Apart from a few established ones, local contractors tend to have this feeling that they are getting a slice of the state cake.
And most of them are fronts for politicians.

As far as certain road construction projects go, getting the job done professionally is the lesser sacrifice.

My brother if we continue nurturing this mindset that foreign contractors do better jobs, we ain't gonna develop our local talents. What we ought to do is ask why our local contractors do shoddy jobs and then find a way to supervise every ongoing projects to ensure that standards and specifications are maintained. Also we must establish a strong institution that would bring to book every failed contractor. However i still maintain that the local contractors do not get proper mobilization because those who award the contracts, cut the contract money into half in most cases. We must understand that developing a society takes a conscious effort through the establishment of credible institutions. It is not a rocket science. I can assure you those institutions used to exist years back, before the governors became the alpha and omega. Do you know that every local government has a qualified civil engineer who heads the town planning authority. Those engineers used to make sure that every contract awarded by the local government are thoroughly executed and delivered within time, and until they append their signatures, those projects cannot be said to have been executed. But that used to happen when we had government and proper checks and balances between authorities.

eaglechild:

IMO state did it and paid woefully, they are still paying for it with very substandard road projects.

You need a very robust and sincere ministry and governor to chase local contractors around, it is the unfortunate truth.

Arab contractors can be "nationalised" like JB, into Arab contractors Nigeria with Nigerians having a stake.


The life style and golf city is a PPP and the foreigners are also investing their money.

Please can you vouch that those Imo contractors were fully paid, or was it a case of asking someone to sign that he received 1 million naira while you actually paid him 1 thousand naira. That's where the issue lies. Okorocha said that one of the contractors ran away with 3 billion naira and refused to do the job, but if you investigate the allegation properly, you will be shocked at your discovery. Our people are not as bad as we portray them, only if we can set the same standard as the white/asian people.

centje: Why are these hot brains not in power...or are all these write up here too idealistic...unless there are peculiar problems in SE which these posters haven't factored in, otherwise, i see a rapid development if all these ideas are implemented in SE.

However, to make all these brilliant ideas work in SE, we need two additional factors; sincerity and patriotism.

It boils down to leadership because every people is a reflection of their leadership. When the leaders are honest, the people have no choice than to cue in, or face the long arms of the law.

HappyJoe:

Most contracts in Anambra are given to local firms - this has led to mixed results; quality tends to be poor.

Happy Joe, we must purge ourselves of complexes. The truth is that our people are capable of delivering on any of these projects, if they are properly mobilized. I know how most houses in ESUT were built. Chimaroke gave some of the contracts to local people with a mandate to deliver at a given time and many of them did. The problem is when you award contract to your brother and you take back 40% of the contract money into your pocket. You then give him 30% of the money and expect him to do miracle. If we can have a governor that is as honest as Sullivan, that can pay contractors as and when due, all those engineering works will be moi moi to our people. I know that acquiring most of the machines needed for these projects are capital intensive but the government can also help individuals to acquire them. Please do we make use of foreiners when building of private houses? If we make use of local people, we must have not only developed our land but also created millionaires among us and the effect will trickle down to the masses because those people will spend the large chunk of the money on their relatives but the foreigners would simply pocket the money and go home. Don't forget that our people are law abiding only when they know they would be prosecuted if they foul the law. In like manner, a local contractor who knows that he will be prosecuted if he fails to deliver would be more honest in doing his job. I believe it's all about honesty.

HappyJoe:

Enugu is going places. Mark my words, the massive real estate development in that town points to that.

What the town needs are a few more airlines flying internationally from its airport. It is already near to ports at PH & Warri and if you have like say, Ethiopian, KLM, Lufthansa & one of the Chinese airlines flying out regularly from there a lot of businessmen will not just settle, but build businesses there.

Compare Enugu with Kano now, what does Kano have that Enugu does not have now & cannot have in future? Kano's advantage over Enugu was an international airport, when Enugu's airport fully takes off, see what Enugu will do.

As I said earlier, all that is needed is a governor to take Enugu to the next level - there's land, they need to map out a "new town development" with solid roads & attract businesses.

To my mind, what the next governor should concentrate on is keeping Enugu clean, creation of jobs through establishment of cottage industries and massive investment in agriculture and education. Also I don't like the idea of giving the contract of building roads to Arab contrators because it engenders capital flight. Even the Enugu lifestyle and golf city is being handled by a foreign firm. If the contracts were awarded to local contractors, we would have killed 2 birds with a stone, developing our land and creating of indigenous millionaires. I think that's an area Sullivan has not done well. Our local engineers should be used in doing those jobs even if the government decides to make use of direct labour. This was one area Chimaroke did a good job. I think that poverty multiplied under Sullivan because all juicy jobs were given to foreigners.

Kkkk

Unemadu:

Not just the candies. A lot more other stuff like the cubed sugar i bought was made in ogun, toilet paper made in lagos, corn flakes made in ogun state and many more things. I just wondered what we were manufacturing down east.

We are manufacturing hotels, filling stations, then prostitution and kidnapping. Even common egg you eat in South east come from south west.

achi4u: Too bad Jonathan could forget the hands that feeds him,frm day one I'm too skeptical about this man with his slow movement in answering and tackling our common problems within a space of time but the euphoria of Jonathan answering igbo name had a hit in our physic.
We still had no choice than to vote him again come 2015 because my own vote won't go to Islamic jihadist.

..............................................................................................


Brother you are right, I too cannot give my vote to an Hausa/Fulani jihadist, no matter what happens. GEJ himself is an efulefu and a no no for me. My option is to keep my vote and wait for Biafra because giving my vote to my oppressor to keep on oppressing me is stupidity.

I am sorry friends that I sounded so harsh, I was just pissed.

[quote author=biafrandream][/quote][quote author=Unemadu]

We wouldnt have had any international flights at all if not for Jonathan admin. Now there is every likelihood that the Niger bridge will be built. Give the guy a break cos he too is fighting Northern forces.

Our focus should be regional integration. We should foster a better partnership with other eastern states and create a powerful economic block.
Why must we always wait for FG or Biafra?

Is there any reason why the eastern region cannot be connected by rail?

Is there any reason why we cant join hands with akwa ibom for instance to develop the sea port or at least have an agreement in terms of transport infrastructure from there to SE states?



.......................................................................................................................................................................................



That is the point I am making, we cherish lies and deceit, yet we want development. He is fighting northern forces but it did not deter him developing his own region. It did not deter him developing northern and western regions, only eastern region's development is stalled because of boko haram.

Don't forget that the stupid GEJ got more votes from south east than some other regions combined, including his own south south, yet Igbos till date got absolutely nothing except constant massacre.

Why did GEJ revive railways in other regions except south east, it is because we are not worthy of it or that we are slaves in Nigeria. It is disgusting that some Igbo folks have accepted the 2nd fiddle position foisted on them by the Nigerian state.

The federal govt built federal universities, refineries, railways, massive roads etc in all regions except south east. What could be responsible for that, but for deliberate post-war policy to keep Igbos economically down till eternity.

Please note that, 3 out of 5 south east states are officially oil producing states. Oil accounts for 90% of federal govt revenue. Invariably, south east contributes about at least 20% revenue to the federal purse with which it develops other regions, yet the clueless president cannot spare at least 1% of the money to build a single infrastructure in south east, not even roads which Sullivan has graciously made a given. the money is used to develop regions that contribute 0 naira to the federal govt, which is why they want one Nigeria.

Well, i wish..........I had my way.

HappyJoe:

To be fair to Jonathan, Enugu was the first airport to be remodeled and the first new terminal to be built.

This is what the terminal looked like a year ago:

My Brother, how much is the budget for the airport that is taking years to complete? How long did it take Sullivan to complete all the multi-billion naira projects he embarked upon? Please give me an example of a single project Jonathan started and finished in south east. There is non. You see, if we can tell ourselves the truth, all of us will be better of. What we want is result not politics and endless politics. Do you know what has kept this thread going strong for years? It is results which we all witness on daily basis.

CFCfan: ^^
On the Enugu airport, I think it will be more realistic if the FG sells 50% stake of it to the ENSG. That way, no tier of govt will bear all the burden of maintaining/upgrading airport infrastructure.

My brother I have always thought the same way, but the issue of the airport being controlled by the federal govt. is purely for the purpose of economic strangulation of the south east. Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium was initially managed by the federal government but was later handed over to ENSG because it has little or no economic value. Why not the airport, because it will offend Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba slave masters. It will impact adversely on the revenue of the Lagos state govt.
Imagine what the airport would look like if Sulivan were to be in control of it's management, I bet, Mohammed intl airport Lagos would have been a joke compare to Enugu by now. Do you know that Enugu shoprite is the largest in Nigeria? This was confirmed by the Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria when he visited Enugu.
Sokoto Caliphate has mandated Badluck Jonathan to make sure that no meaningful infrastructure is built in the south east or there will be an outright war. This is why a miniature project of a paltry sum of 13 billion is taking so long to complete. Even the 2015 deadline is to get Igbo votes as usual and unfortunately, the gullible Igbos who have accepted slavery as their destiny in Nigeria have fallen for the antics.
How long did it take Sullivan to build nike to Opi Nsukka road, the Shoprite shopping mall, the State secretariat, Zik Ave bridge and so on. These are mega projects that cost tens of billions of naira. Does it not bother us that the federal government with an annual budget of trillions of naira has not construct a single road in the south east. I mean a single road. Sullivan with a paltry budget of 3 billion naira has built hundreds of kilometers of roads in the state.
We Igbos must accept the fact that we have no place in Nigeria. We voted GEJ enmasse, the consequence is that we have suffered the second worst genocide after the civil as a result, yet GEJ cannot build common Enugu-Onitsha road for 6 years running.
If I have my way, I will gather all the Igbo efulefus who support GEJ and those who want to remain part of Nigeria, tie them to a tree shoot all of them.
You guys should wake up and accept that the so called Enugu Intl Airport is a huge joke, used by the imbecilic Ijaw man called Jonathan to curry Igbo votes.
Have you people realized that since Ethiopian airline started making a stop over at Kano that APC and some of their Igbo slaves no longer make an issue of it. Their goal have been achieved.
Biafara is our right and our hope!

Kalvan2000:

Pure comedy.

A journey of a thousand miles, begins with a single step . The journey to build the city of our dream has just begun and if you knew from whence we came, you would appreciate the little but significant step we've taken so far

spyder880: The University of Nigeria, Enugu campus. Works about the new gate is ongoing.

GREAT LIONS AND LIONESSES!

Wow, my alma mater! All the love. Thanks Spydder

spyder880: The rails at Ogui junction, Enugu.

Nawa oo, Enugu don become 1st class city for naija oo.

WIZGUY69: Not Impressed. still that backward and underdeveloped town/village.
042 ko, 024 ni. what's all these?

I think the essence of this thread is to show the progress we've made in Enugu. We do appreciate that more needs to be done so we don't need your hate inspired snide here. Enugu is working, we are happy and pray it continues.

Longeria: I'm not from Enugu, but it may interest you to know that this thread is the healthiest, most consistent and thought provoking thread in nairaland. I believe what is surviving the thread is good governance in the state because there are a lot of good development to write about. That's reason any thread about Imo State where I come from ends as war front because of visionless, corrupt and confused governor. I jealous Enugu people to be sincere. Had it been this thread is about a glorified local government like Ekiti or Osun states, will you be crying bitterly like this?

O di egwu brother. Ochi eme m something.... ;.D

I am proud of everyone on this thread. Common guys we can build Igboland, only if we humbly and wisely look at the bigger picture. Let us extend the development to all the corners of Igboland, from Enugu to Awka, from Abakaliki to Owerri, from Umuahia to Asaba. We should bring back the spirit of 'Egbe bere, Ugo bere.' Let us eschew vanity from our hearts. It is vanity that makes a governor to want to be the richest man in the zoo called Nigeria, when there is no road, electricity, schools etc, in his State. Vanity would make a sitting governor to build a shopping mall in another man's land when there is none in a place he governs. Sullivan is setting the practical step to our redemption as a people, without making unnecessary noise. Our redemption lies in building our land to the envy of others. If we build our land, other tribes will come, live and work and pay us tax. If we build our land, we will reduce the suffering and humiliation, we encounter as a result of living and developing other people's land at our expense. The APC bigots won't notice the giant strides of the best Sullivan Chime, but they will notice his family problems. Lagos State revenue is 10 times that of Enugu, yet I still doubt if Fashola can rival Sullivan. Gov. Akpabio receives 18-20 billion monthly from federal allocation, while Sullivan receives a paltry sum of 2-3 billion monthly. I am still waiting to see or even hear of a single private investment named after Sullivan, having been a governor for 6 good years in a morbidly corrupt clime like Nigeria. I still proclaim that I love Sullivan and he still one of the best thing to happen to Igboland. I have no personal benefit that I receive from Sullivan, but God knows I love good people. It breaks my heart watching Igbos being slaughtered and their businesses destroyed in so many places for no reason other than that they are Igbos. Brothers let's build our land, because we all will be better at the long run. I greet everyone.

[quote author=eaglechild]@joeluv
That's great news!
How accessible

The area is around Akwuke beach, off Enugu-PH express way, about 2 miles from gariki market.

IKEMBA NNEWI: Did anyone else notice that that road is without markings?? If that road was in Anambra now, most of you would have come to spew gibberish on how Peter Obi is a 'Mediocre'? And nobody should bring that lame excuse of ''it's not yet completed'' cos the topic reads that it's been commissioned!

Brother, everything happens in stages. You know that these roads are still receiving finishing touches. You saw the unmarked roads but refused to see paintings at the edge of the pedestrian path, which leaves no one in doubt that the roads would be marked eventually. Why do we enjoy making unhealthy comparisons among ourselves as Igbos. With due respect, one should appreciate someone else's effort, then pray and work hard towards replicating the project in one' s area and not making comments suggestive of envy. I am sorry to say this but it's true. I appreciate every development in Igboland no matter where it is sited. I think this comment is not really fair to people trying to make our society better.

Hey guys, I am a regular listener of RadioBiafraLodon broadcasts, and I deemed it necessary to introduce you to it.

The radio broadcasts live every evening at 6pm and 7pm London and Nigerian times respectively.

To listen to the radio, log on to www.radiobiafralondon.co or download their app from google play in order to listen with your smartphone.

Tnx everyone.

ubomez2@yahoo.c:
Cjrane, thankyou for your comments and analysis. To be brutally honest with you I have little or no confidence in Ethiopian Airlines. I would have preferred any other airline to ply the Enugu route eg Lufthansa, KLM or Air France. My first airport of choice to land is Enugu of all the airports in Nigeria but the airline plying the route at present is not my ideal airline. I need other options. What are they? This we do not know. I agree with you that Enugu is improving with a lot of infrastructure works going on ie roads, bridges etc and the city is becoming an attractive investors destination for many of us who live abroad. cheers

Ethiopian Airline is not your ideal airline? Good on you bro. I started flying Ethiopian Airline even before they came to Enugu. If I may ask you, how old is Ethiopian Airline and how many crashes have they had since they started flying? Please google it and tell me. Also let us know the basis of your disapproval of the airline. The airline is one of the best in the world. I know it is not ideal to you because it is African and it flies to Enugu. Ogbete market does not notice the absence of a single trader, so those of us traveling with it will continue to do so, even if other airlines start flying Enugu route. Tnx.

Chima_Agbalajob:

I had previously been informed by more than 7 vibrant business people based at Onitsha,who frequently travel to China and the Far-east for business that they didn't know AIIA was now international and Ethiopian airline was already on that route! They still use Turkish,Emirates or Egypt air to travel via Lagos.

Also 95% of Igbo people here in the USA have NO CLUE that they could fly to Enugu from here via Ethiopian airline. Also the attitude of our people sometimes suck. When you tell some about that Enugu destination option which makes things a lot easier,especially those families traveling with children that will be saved long arduous journeys in luxury buses from Lagos to the East with American kids used to smooth roads and air-conditioned cars, they make silly excuses and it sometimes appears as if to fly to Enugu directly with their families will be doing you some hidden personal favor!
Most of them that went for Christmas still flew to Lagos and then stayed in a hotel for the night. Only to ride to Enugu the next day with luxury buses from Lagos! What a waste of time and resources! Old habits are indeed hard to die.
I also wondered why ASA USA will not even mention Enugu International airport now functional in its long list of useless "enlightenment" announcements in most of our meetinngs.

I think Ethiopian airline must target to regularly serve at least 20-30% of businessmen at Ogbete main market, Onitsha main market and Ariaria market Aba. If they can corner just 10 % of the business travel from these 3 markets alone, they will be needing a B747 to accommodate the number of passengers.
They must not only erect billboards right in front of these key markets, but must regularly use ESBS,ABS, IBC and BCA broadcasting outfits to announce their presence at AIIA,Enugu.Other catchment markets such as Benin city, Agbor & Asaba,Delta state, Abakaliki, Ebonyi state, Igala and Idoma parts of Kogi and Benue should also not be neglected.

Our people are horrible when it comes to building our land. An Igbo man would rather fly to Kano first and then fly to his state than flying straight to Enugu. All the talk about lack of advertisement and awareness is simply not true. I know a lot of people who knew about Ethiopian Airline but they still prefer landing in Lagos or Abuja first (even when they have no business to transact there), before flying to their home destinations.

In as much as I agree that the initial price of flying to Enugu by Ethiopian Airline was very expensive, but what happens now that the price has been slashed and is the same with flying to Lagos. What is the difference between flying KLM, Turkish Airline, Air France etc and flying Ethiopian Airline, when all these airlines land first in their home countries before moving to their destination countries?

One of our sisters who was to travel to Nigeria told me, that it's makes no sense going to spend 13hours at Addis Ababa but it makes sense to her going to spend the same time in Holland. The I-too-know syndrome makes Igbos behave foolishly. We all claim to know but we have not understood the basic principle of self-preservation. We lack the spirit of Igbo patriotism and that is why we will remain slaves in Nigeria and will continue to be killed like chickens, everywhere, everyday.

I am not here to preach tribalism, but we must understand that we are first Igbos, before Nigerians and no one would build our land except us. An Igbo man has not learnt to patronize his own business for the sake of making sure that businesses in that part of the world survive, in order to keep people in jobs. A white man once told me that he spends so much money in the bar to keep people in jobs. He said that if he saves all the money he makes, many bars will close down and he will be in deep shit because lack of job will breed crime.

An Igbo man will first ask you if the business will benefit Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi or Abia? He would rather patronize an hausa or yoruba business than his fellow Igboman's, yet he is the first person to go to the roof top to moan about government's inability to provide jobs. He feels on top of the world when his fellow Igbo man is living in abject poverty while he swims in money because it gives him a sense of superiority over his brother.

The bottom line is that we are still suffering from self-hate and no people have ever succeeded with such attitude. The Nigerian state succeeded in destroying our sense of altruism, such that we cannot be happy seeing our brothers living better than us without feeling bad. Even some comments here attests to this fact. Who would have bought Innoson buses if Sullivan Chime did not first buy them in hundreds? How many of us would rather eat Abakaliki rice than imported ones? How many would prefer Ibeto cement to Dangote?

Hey guys if we cannot develop this spirit of self-preservation, we will remain slaves running helter-skelter all over the world. While you patronize other businesses, do not fail to patronize yours, because in such way, you make your society better.

Please I did not mean to insult anyone, It's just a thought.

Egwugwu masquerade at Okpara square Enugu at the ongoing cultural fiesta.

I have always thought, this was the best thing to do. As long as it is being managed by the government, it will continue continue to bleed from the wounds of corruption. With private investors in control, the hotel would not only be optimally utilized, it will create more jobs.

HOTEL PRESIDENTIAL ENUGU: GOVERNMENT SIGNS MOU WITH PRIVATE INVESTORS.

'ENUGU- The Enugu State Government says it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Exceptional Hospitality Services Ltd. for the management of Presidential Hotel, Enugu.


The State’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Chief Joe Mamel, told newsmen in Enugu on Tuesday that the agreement would run for the next 35 years and that the government would hand over the hotel to the management company as soon as the arrangement was finalised.


Mamel said the handover of the management of the hotel to the private sector would enable the state government to expand its revenue base especially as the investor planned invest N4 billion to upgrade


“Government owns Presidential Hotel Ltd 100 per cent but the management of Presidential Hotel has gone down. It is supposed to be a limited liability company, which should be profit-oriented.


“Presidential Hotel is supposed to be a venture of government, which should be able to pay itself and make profit for government as well, but for more than 20 years, there has not been any financial heading of Presidential Hotel in terms of cash inflow into government coffers.


“Exceptional Hospitality Services Ltd are the investors coming in and they have the know-how in terms of the industry.


“We are working on a 30-35 years lease, based on the time, we believe that through the project plan, that there can be a recovery of investment.“


Mamel also said that the current carnival in the coal city would feature a street carnival to enable the citizens to display their different cultural attires, adding that it was to promote culture and tradition.


He said the festival would feature traditional wrestling as part of the activities in the festival.
The commissioner noted that the festival had boosted economic activities and attracted foreign tourists to the state.


‘‘We come from a place with culture and we should advertise our culture so that the young ones who know little or nothing about our culture will also learn from it,’’ he said.


Reports say that the climax of the festival would be a visit to tourist sites in the state.'