Gov Eno Insists On Managing State-owned Hospitality Facilities For Profitability

By Bassey Nkponam 
UYO
The Akwa Ibom governor has said that henceforth government-owned hospitality facilities, including the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort, would be run as profit-making ventures. 
Pastor Umo Eno, who stated this, recently, while fielding questions from Government House correspondents shortly after inspecting the ongoing renovation of facilities at the Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort, Nwaniba, Uyo,Tuesday, said government under his watch, cannot put so much money into facilities like the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort and they keep reporting deficit because we want an international brand, adding we can be our own brand.
Eno listed some of the State-owned hospitality facilities to include Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort, Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Ikot Ekpene, ongoing ARISE Resort, and facilities in Lagos and Abuja, insisting that they must be strategically managed as profit-making ventures.
He said government would put in place a strategic hospitality management group to properly develop a State brand to ensure that the State hospitality facilities deliver efficiently and profitably.
   “We can’t put so much money into facilities like this, and they keep reporting deficit because we want an international brand. We can be our own brand,” he stated, adding, “Five or six years ago, Ibom Air was not a brand, but today, it is a brand to reckon with. You can create your brand. Each and everyone of us have our identity. It is now left for us to develop our identity”.
The governor called on indigenous professional hoteliers both at home and in the Diaspora to look inward and be part of the Akwa Ibom hospitality brand, saying, “there is no hotel in this country that you will not find an Akwa Ibom son or daughter at the hierarchy of management. So, we call on them to return home and put that same energy in turning around our hotel facilities”.
Eno, who is a Fellow of the Nigerian Hotel and Catering Institute (NHCI), assured that government will offer experienced indigenous hoteliers who have made their mark in the hospitality industry opportunities to showcase their proficiency in the running of the hotel.
He said the tour of the ongoing renovated facility was for him to see the  prototype rooms to ensure its readiness for usage come December as expected, adding that the ongoing upgrade of facilities in the hotel will be done in phases to meet up with its total overhaul.
The chief executive officer noted that the State has amazing hospitality assets that require expertise in different areas including front desk management, house keeping, engineering, reservation and audit to form a strong group that would develop the State’s operational manual in the sector. 
According to him, “This is necessary and important so that if I am here in Uyo or in Abuja, we already know the standard and it would be the same. Uniforms, attitude, and the likes must be the same. It takes a lot of training and retraining to achieve that”.