There have been series of negative reactions to Governor Hope Uzodinma’s recent agreement between Imo State Government, Hassan Allam Construction, Afrexim Bank, Fidelity Bank and Punz Limited, under the Public Private Partnership to build a Hotel in Imo that already has more than enough hotels rather than investing the money in building industries that will create employment for the teeming jobless youths.
“Mezie Imo”, one of the groups that condemned the Governor’s proposal said, “what Governor Uzodinma intends to do, is akin to what former Governor Rochas Okorocha did, when he allegedly chanelled a huge sum of money towards the purported construction of three 5-stars hotels that uptill date did not see the light of day”.
The President of the group, Comrade Onyedikachi Madu, who stated this while addressing newsmen in Owerri over the weekend, maintained that, no matter what the Governor thinks, the hotel project is not what Imolites need at this point in time, because aside the limited number of jobs it will create, there are already over two hundred and fifty hotels in Owerri, in the State capital alone, while there are very few top notch industries.
Recall, that Governor Uzodinma, last week, signed an agreement with Hassan Allam Construction, Afrexim Bank, Fidelity Bank and Punz Limited, under the Public Private Partnership.
A cross section of Imo people who also commented on the Governor’s proposed hotel project described it as an unnecessary waste of funds that is synonymous with an ill wind that will blow no one good. They urged the Governor to concentrate more on human capital development.
The consensus among Imo people at home and in the Diaspora, according to reports filed by our correspondents who conducted opinion polls on the issue, is that the Governor should outrightly jettison the idea of building a hotel and invest the money ear marked for it into more meaningful projects that will not only curb the immorality that hotels breed but also create jobs and enhance economic activities in it’s immediate location and the state at large.
