Kwara Hotel Upgrade is Cheap Based on Market Value, Students in Tertiary Institutions Say

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

Students in the nation’s tertiary institutions in Kwara State have approved the upgrade of the state owned Kwara Hotel with sum of N17.8 billion by the state government. 

They said that the approval was based on the Mathematical equation competition organised by a prodemocracy group, Kwara Must Change (KMC) to determine the bankability and justifiability of renovating Kwara Hotel and upgrading it to five star hotel at the rate of N17.8 billion.

Each of the four students shortlisted by the group endorsed the upgrading of the hotel saying that the state government decision to use the sum of the N17.8 billion to upgrade the hotel was in order and even cheap.

Mr. Ibrahim Abdulazeez, a student of Surveying and GeoInformatics at the Moddibo Adam University of Technology Yola, the Kwara State Government is able to upgrade a 172 rooms hotel to five star hotel for N17.8 billion, which appeared to be more efficient use of funds compared to others who did smaller projects with more funds.”

Another student, Elijah Oyedele Ainiku, a physics student from University of Ilorin also agreed with Abdulazeez in his submission.

He concluded that the proposed cost of upgrading Kwara Hotel is cheap, when compared to other listed examples such as Akwa Ibom and Premier Hotel.

In another entry, a student from University of Ilorin, Mr. Ibrahim Qosim Olamide, stated that the calculation showed that the adjusted cost of upgrading Kwara Hotel is higher than the proposed cost and we can say that the proposed cost is relatively cheap.

Salaudeen Ayodeji Faruk, a student from University of Ilorin who adopted a different approach to the equation stated that, the cost per room of Kwara Hotel is cheaper, when compared to other hotels across the country and this means that the cost of the upgrade is very reasonable and worth it and it can be described as good investment.

Earlier, the KMC said that it has shortlisted entries by four students in its mathematical competition to determine the bankability and justifiability of renovating the hotel.

The group had earlier announced Kwara Hotel Mathematical competition with a reward of N50,000 for correct entries, in an effort to get dispassionate and honest evaluation of investment by Kwara State Government.

The global director of KMC, Mr. Rasaq Hamzat, said that analysing governance issues could not be left to politicians and few public personalities, who might be turning facts on its head based on their own interest and bias.

He said: “This explains why it introduced the mathematical competition and numerous students from across the federation sent in entries.”

He, however, said that each of the students presented a detailed solution to the mathematical equation, using different methodology.

Hamzat also said that, the group is yet to make any official statement on the hotel upgrade.