IGR drive unsettles Imo’s multi billion naira cash cow hotel industry

By Saby Elemba, in Owerri

• Hoteliers give 14‭ ‬days ultimatum‭ ‬
• Association may head to High Court
• Rise in unemployment feared

Imo State, with the capital Owerri, arguably the Nigeria city with the highest concentration of hotels per square metre, is failing to deepen its strategies on how to turn that into a true pilgrimage city for hospitality and leisure and help it earn revenues that could see it rise to a respectable place in internally generated revenue (IGR) table of the country.

Instead, it appears that by a crude system that does not see being part of ‘baking the cake’ as the best way to grow revenue, the state is said to be unleashing anguish, mental torment, grief at the moment and causing insomnia to hoteliers in the state as a result of the unbearable activities of some revenue agents of the state government, which is now forcing the Nigerian Hotels Association (NHA) Imo Chapter, to consider either a shut down or to go into untimely death, unless state governor, Hope Uzodinma, acts quickly to save a sector, widely acknowledged as the goose that lays the golden egg for the growth of the state’s economy. 

Few weeks ago, precisely on August 16, 2022 during the inauguration of the present executives of NHA,  Imo Chapter in Owerri, Chima Chukwunyere, its chairman, openly lamented the worsening operating business conditions in the state.

“Today,  the industry is in a coma and on a life support,  and if the government does not hasten to revive the dying industry, it is likely to pack up in this time and season  under the watch of his Excellency, the governor of Imo State,  and this will throw thousands of Imolites back into the labour market,” said Chukwunyere said.

Also, during that same event, Uche Ohia, Imo State commissioner for tourism, culture and creative arts, told the public that the hotel sector is the soul of the hospitality industry in the state, adding that the collapse of the industry would inevitably lead to the collapse of the Imo State economy. He gave what could be described as a believable promise that the government would protect the hotel sector from collapsing at all costs.

But just two weeks after the promise, precisely on August 30, 2022, Chima Chukwunyere and the executive members of the NHA, Imo Chapter, while addressing journalists said some government agents and appointees, have decided to take the laws into their hands unmindful that the industry, which used to be the pride of the state, is in a coma.

He said the association reached an agreement with the Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS), which the association has not faulted or breached.

According to him,  “Yesterday (29 August, 2022),  a violent team from Imo ENTRACO, under the watch of the general manager, and the ENTRACO is being supervised by the ministry of environment, moved from their office and attacked one of our  hotels by 3:30 pm. They were behaving like wounded lions, men who looked like ruffians … they attacked Harvester Hotel Limited, Owerri, forcefully locked up the gates with chains from outside,  thereby locking in both staff and guests.

“After perfecting the act, they placed a notice at the gate that the hotel has been sealed because of their demand for environmental pollution which is the exclusive responsibility of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA),” he said angrily.

The recent attack and invasion of the Harvesters Hotel Owerri,  he said,  has forced the association to once again  cry out to Governor Hope Uzodimma over what he described as illegal and unabated operations of some revenue touts/consultants who masquerade as government’s revenue agents,  lamenting that this had continued to deal a devastating blow to the hotel and hospitality sector that lays the golden egg in terms of the monthly internally generated revenue (IGR)  to the state government.

Consequently, the association issued a 14-day ultimatum to the state government to get a grip of the ugly and hydra-headed trend or risk the closure of all hotels in the state.

Chukwunyere who addressed newsmen in Owerri along with members of his executive also informed that NHA,  Imo Chapter, has consistently and judiciously complied with the mutual agreement between it and the state’s Internal Revenue Service (IIRS) in respect of payment of taxes and other sundry obligations.

Chukwunyere stated that notwithstanding this adherence to the agreement, the hotels  had often suffered setbacks through the activities of some criminal elements who always subject the members of the association to unprecedented extortion since the creation of the present Imo State, harassment to the highest level and sealing up of their hotels randomly on trumped up charges bordering on impunity.

He restated that the latest in the series of the onslaught was the violent invasion and sealing up of the Harvester Hotels Owerri by  a highly  aggressive team of the state Environmental Transformation Commission (ENTRACO) over non-payment of  environmental pollution/nuisance, which precipitated anxiety and apprehension among staff and guests of the hotel who were all trapped within the premises.

He explained that collection of levy for Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) and that of Environmental Audit (EA) is the exclusive responsibility of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) as ordered by the Appeal Court.

“All our hotels in the state have complied with the federal government directive and the government has visited our hotels and given us a clean bill of health. The Appeal Court ruling of 2018 banned all states of the federation and the FCT from indulging in EIA and EA and we are shocked that in the midst of this low patronage occasioned by the nation’s harsh economic melt-down which has pushed hotels in the state to a state of coma, men of the ENTRACO could be so callous and insensitive to seal up hotels without a court order or bailiff,” he said.

Michael Mbakwe, secretary of NHA, Imo Chapter, who also spoke to journalists, said the situation has become worrisome in the state with government appointees coming every now and again to disturb hoteliers and their guests.

“We call on His Excellency Governor Hope Uzodinma to come to our aid and organise a committee to look into these things  in the state, this is a serious issue,” he said in exasperation.

In the same manner, Uche Melody, general manager of Harvester Hotel Limited,  whose hotel was attacked and sealed, accused ENTRACO officials of thuggery and extortion, stating that a “Harmonised, Demand Service Agreement” between the association and the state government had never been violated by their members.

Mbakwe also urged the governor to act while the iron is hot by organising a committee to remedy the unhealthy practice, adding that despite all entreaties to stem the ugly development, they usually insist on recovering all money they said they had  paid to the state government,  adding also that millions of money they had already paid to government would be recovered through any means legal or illegal.