Hotel owners in Osun state say they are struggling to stay afloat as a result of the refusal of the Governor of the state, Rauf Aregbesola to pay debts incurred by guests of the state government who lodged in their establishments.
According to the spokesperson of the hoteliers, Babatunde Karim, the debt of Aregbesola’s government dates back to March 2014.
“We are gasping for breath now and business has slowed down because of poor patronage and indebtedness to many hotels in Osogbo. We remain a strong supporter of the administration of Ogbeni Aregbesola and hope he will take us into consideration while taking critical decision on how to stabilise private businesses in the state.
“It is pertinent to note here that all policies and programmes of Aregbesola’s administration in the tourism and hospitality sector in the state, have impacted positively on our business, but we urge him to take urgent steps to further protect our investments from crumbling by paying promptly for the services we have rendered.
“Many hotels are retrenching because of huge amount owed them by government. Some could no longer cope and have dropped out of business. We urge him to please pay us the money to prevent total collapse of the sector.”
Leave a reply