The Lagos State Government on Wednesday reflected on the cost of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which, it said, had brought down the state’s hotel patronage by 75 per cent apart from the deaths recorded. Consequently, the state government put the losses of big hotels in the state at N8 billion within a period of four months that the virus lasted in the state, disclosing that the hotels were losing N2 billion each month. The State Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Disun Holloway, gave the figure at a news conference at Alausa, lamenting that tourism only contributed less than one percent to the state’s budget. But Holloway promised that tourism could make between 15 and 20 percent of Lagos budget once the state’s critical infrastructure “is adequately developed. Our economy is large. For us to contribute 15 to 20 per cent, tourism needs to be large.”
The commissioner, therefore, acknowledged that the impact of Ebola on hotel patronage “was significant. The patronage fell from 75 per cent to 36 percent for a period of four months that the disease lasted. “It really affected the turnover of the hotels. The hotels lost about N8 billion within this period. The hotels were losing about N2 billion per months. This was only applicable to big hotels. We did not factor in what smaller hotels lost. “Again, until we have a return from all the hotels, we can have accurate annual turn of the hotels. Without information from the hotels, it is difficult for us to analysis. But we did simulation exercise. “We believe the industry made N46 billion per annum. Tourism contributed less than one percent to the state budget. We get less than one percent when we remove the contributions of hotels,” Holloway explained.
He admitted that infrastructure was still a major challenge, noting that tourism could contribute between 15 and 20 per cent “to the state budget by 2025. I see us achieving this feat in few years. But we are right now below one per cent if the contribution of hotels is not factored into it.” Besides, the commissioner decried the spate of piracy in the state entertainment industry, noting that a lot of people always go online “to download films. The state government cannot monitor this because it does not have the legal backing to do so. It is a major problem and it is not peculiar to Nigeria. “That is our intention to ensure that more persons are jailed so that there will be some decorum in the industry. Whilst it is recognised that piracy is placed on the exclusive legislative list and the only agency empowered to combat it is the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC),” the commissioner said.
The 2015 edition of PUNUKA Attorneys & Solicitors annual lecture with the topic ‘Anti-Corruption and Bribery Laws: Extra Territorial Applications and Lessons for Businesses and Government Agencies’ will hold on Thursday, April 30, 2015 at the Metropolitan Club, 15 Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos at 10a.m. The lecture, an annual event, is aimed at bringing together key industry players and stakeholders on topical issues bordering on law, the economy, financial matters, good governance, nation-building, amongst others. A retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, will be the chairman of this year’s edition, while Professor Mariana Mota Prado, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto will be the guest lecturer.
The lecture will also have a panel of discussants that will further deliberate on the subject. Speaking on the suitability of the topic, the Senior Partner of the firm, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), said the discourse presented from both international and local perspectives, would address amongst other issues, the efficacy of anti-corruption laws, the extra territorial application of foreign anti-bribery laws such as the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Bribery Act), the advent of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Nigeria, with focus on the effectiveness of their anti-corruption policies and campaign and the implication for the economy, businesses and government institutions. The PUNUKA lecture, is a yearly event organised as part of the firm’s corporate social responsibility.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/ebola-reduced-lagos-hotel-patronage-by-75-in-2014/207538/
