The Nigeria Hotel Association (NHA) has called on both the federal and state governments to give them grants in order to improve their business.
National President of the Association, His Highness Eze Dr Patrick Anyanwu, made the appeal at a press conference in Bauchi.
He said many of them borrowed money from banks to run the business and high interest from banks slow down their profits.
Anyanwu said the outcome of a recent delegate meeting held in Lagos, prover that the association is working hard to unite members as one powerful body.
“We are pleading for government grants because we are contributing a lot in the development of this country in terms of revenue, employment, and accommodating visitors from all over the world,” he said.
“The Government of Nigeria doesn’t have many hotels, it is members of NHA that accommodate their visitors from all over the world. They should think about giving us grants.
“Many of the hotels borrowed money from banks to uplift their business but revenue officials keep coming to us with multiple requests for revenue.
“We deserve to have grants because after states hotel owners are the biggest sources of revenue to the government and the biggest employers of labour.
“When it comes to employment for instance, there are hotels that employ more than 100 staff.”
He advised revenue collectors to liaise with the leadership of NHA in the states to know the caliber of hotel they demand revenue from.
“You cannot collect revenue by force and put pressure on the owners of hotels”
The NHA National President, who said the association’s goal is to speak with one voice, explained that the grants would be used to put their hotel business in order.
“A hotel that was built 20 years ago has to be renovated to attract more visitors,” he explained, stressing the need for registration of new members, and payment of annual dues regularly.
“If we don’t upgrade our hotels they will go home with bad news and it will affect the image of the country. We focus our attention on the government for grants because they are the ones coming to us to collect revenue issues and if we leave those people we employ on their behalf they will constitute a nuisance because a hungry man is an angry man.’
Anywanwu urged owners of big hotels who are yet to join the association to do so. “Every hotel should register from the state to the national,” he advised.
“Most of all these big hotels have refused to join the NHA because they feel they are capable of carrying their load.”
He said that NHA is not committed to tackling any problem encountered by members who are not registered with the association.
“You cannot commit an offence or have a serious issue and expect the association that you didn’t belong to carry the load,” he stated.
“People raised the alarm that they would kill somebody in their hotel but after investigation you discover that the hotel is not a member. Whoever is doing hotel business know that they are supposed to belong to NHA because we do have meetings and update ourselves to know the challenges facing members in order to defend them when you are right and to punish erring members”
