Workers of Kwara State-owned Kwara Hotel have relived the good times and fortune of the company when former Governor Mohammed Alabi Lawal governed the state between 1999 and 2003.
Head of Human Resource and Acting General Manager of the Hotels, Salami Moshood, recalled this on Wednesday.
Moshood, who also doubles as the State Secretary of the Trade Union Congress, made the revelation to newsmen following an early morning peaceful protest by the workers of the hotel.
Kwara Hotel was established in 1975 by the Theophilus Bamigboye Military Administration as one of the signature projects that put Kwara State on the height of glory.
But according to Salami: “The last time any government did renovation works on our facilities was in 2001 during the tenure of Alhaji Mohammed Lawal.
“His successors (Dr. Bukola Saraki and Abdulfattah Ahmed) completely abandoned and orphaned this place and that’s one of the reasons they were voted out.
“Sadly, the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq Government has refused to be a clear departure from the past.
“As I am speaking with you, they’re owing the staff seven months salary.”
Moshood also disclosed that it was on account of this that the former General Manager, Hajia Abdulkadir, resigned her appointment, due to deliberate frustration of her efforts.
He added: “We’ve tried all possible bureaucratic options to settle the issue to no avail.
“I have visited the GMD of parent company, Harmony Holdings, intimating him of the impending action, yet he’s refused to come down to address the staff till date.”
An unsigned statement pushed out by the Corporate Affairs Unit of Harmony Holding, the parent company in charge of the Hotel, however dismissed the workers’ claim, arguing: “It is on record that we have never abdicated our responsibility as we have been doing everything within our reach as the investment management company of the Kwara State Government with the active support of the state government to fix the challenges confronting the hotel.”