The Hotel Owners Forum,
Abuja (HOFA) on Thursday in Abuja lamented the erratic power supply to the city, saying it had negatively affected the hospitality industry in the territory.
The President of the association, Dr Bola Onigbogi, told newsmen that the erratic power supply had taken a negative toll on their operation.
According to her, hotel business in the Federal Capital Territory is saturated and owners cannot start increasing room rates and other services.
“Before the proposed 45 per cent electricity tariff increment in February this year; we were complaining that what we were paying then was high.
“Now they have increased the tariff by 45 per cent; actually, the court and the National Assembly had stopped them from implementing the increase.
“But they went ahead and implemented it; we are not finding it easy, and to make matters worse, the supply is not there and we pay the high rate for power,’’ she reiterated.
She said that the erratic power supply was impacting negatively on commercial and domestic activities in the country.
Onigbogi said that consumers across the country were groaning because the electricity supply was erratic.
“Even the Transmission Companies of Nigeria confirmed that there was a sharp drop in the electricity supply across the country.
“By the time you put all these together, you will discover that many businesses in the country are running at a loss; we are not making profit like before again.
“We spend over 35 per cent of our profit on alternative power supply only; it is not supposed to be so; it should be like 10 to 15 per cent.
“Government needs to do something about it because we cannot continue like this; it is not easy,’’ she stressed.
Meanwhile, Chief Tomi Akingbogun, the President of Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) said that the recent increment in electricity tariff was ill timed.
According to him, the investors are supposed to have given all electricity consumers prepaid meters before implementing any form of increment.
He said that many hotel owners in Abuja were converting their hotels into residential facility.
“I know more than three hotels in Abuja that have been converted to residence; as at now.
“There are hotels that cannot pay their workers’ salaries; some are owing their staff for some months; these are due to challenges facing the hospitality industry in the country.
“The investors in the power sector and Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission do not have the Nigerian people and business in their minds; they are only after the profit for the investors,’’ he said.
Speaking in same vein, Mr Martins Agbo, the Public Relations Officer of Nicon Luxury Hotel, Area 11 in Abuja said that the government needed to wake up and do the needful.
According to him, the Federal Government before privatising the sector, had invested a lot of money in the power sector, but there was no commensurate improvement.
“This is because of corruption; Nigerians handling the power sector were not sincere in the provision of uninterrupted power supply to Nigerians.
“Sabotage is another thing that the government has to look into with all manner of doggedness; because many unpatriotic Nigerians are hell bent on destroying power installations in the country.
“We spend a lot of money on alternative power supply for the hotel, but it would have been better if public power supply is constant to justify the increment in tariff,’’ he said.