The spiral shaped, 18-storey, 5-star Tower Hotel code-named ‘Tower of controversies’ because of the issues surrounding the project, remains abandoned in Bayelsa State.
President Goodluck Jonathan stirred the hornets’ nest in the build-up to the February 2012 governorship election that produced Governor Seriake Dickson.
The foundation for the project was laid by the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, less than two years after he assumed office, with the goal being to boost the tourism potentials of the state and generate revenue.
However, several years after the dream was conceptualized and billions of Naira injected into it, the multi- billion Naira state-owned project has become the proverbial stillborn. A white elephant.
The hotel located between Bayelsa Palm Road along Milford Okilo Expressway, that was intended to be a 14-storey building with 120 rooms and 2,500 capacity auditorium, now wears a relic of neglect, over-growing with weed, amid caving walls.
The project was inherited by Goodluck Jonathan following the removal of Alamieyesiegha from office. The hotel project was on the second floor stage when Jonathan was nominated as Vice President to late President Umaru Yar’adua.
Timipre Sylva, who succeeded Jonathan, later redesigned the structure and upgraded it to its present 18-floor status.
Jonathan described project as monument of disgrace
The now abandoned project was described by Jonathan, during a campaign rally in Yenagoa in 2012, as ‘a monument of disgrace.’
At the grand finale rally of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the build up to the 2012 governorship election that brought Seriake Dickson to power, the former president said the political difference he had with Sylva had to do with the abandoned hotel project.
The former president said at the rally that he did not support Sylva’s re-election bid because the former governor abandoned the hotel project. “Everybody knows that in our society, we need development. I was second in command to Alamieyeseigha administration. One thing I remember is the Tower Hotel. It was not my dream but it was conceptualized under the Alamieyeseigha administration.
“He discussed it with the contractors. It was supposed to be a five-star hotel and it would attract people from all over the world. But now, it is a monument of disgrace”, Jonathan said.
Timipre Sylva’s commitment
Timipre Sylva, who took over as governor in 2007, on his part, expressed commitment to continuing with the project. He actually redesigned it and took it to the 18th floor, where it remains today.
He was desirous of continuing, until a big problem crept in with the contractors. He accused Jonathan of compromising the contractor handling the project. The stoppage of further work drove a wedge between Jonathan and Sylva, such that the former used non-completion of the hotel as the reason he stopped his second term bid.
Sylva, in one of his explanations, stated why he stopped work on the project. He disclosed that the bogus contract valuation requested by the contractor who built it was not tenable, noting that the construction company built a church and donated it to Jonathan in his community, Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area.
He said; “That five-star hotel project was on the second floor when I came in as governor in 2007. It was a project started and abandoned by former governor, late Alamieyeseigha. I came in and took that project from the second to 18th floor. The project was initially awarded for N8 billion and he had already paid the contractor N6 billion at a point.
“Then the contractor came to me to ask for a variation of N5 billion because the external works were not included in the initial contract they signed.
“I told the contractor it would be too expensive a project because, if we add N5 billion variation to an already expensive project of N8 billion initial contract value, that would amount to N13 billion and we had not included the furnishing of the hotel yet. And an 18-storey five-star hotel is not going to be easy to furnish.
“So, by the time we put all these things together, it would probably have cost us about N20 billion to build one hotel in Bayelsa. I thought it was really not a viable project and that was why I withdrew from the project.”
Julius Bokoru, a Media Assistant to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, spoke to QUEST TIMES about the project.
He said; “The project in question was not started by Alamieyeseigha. It was conceived by Jonathan. It was awarded to Gitto for about 8 billion Naira.
“It was on the second floor when Sylva got in as governor, and he paid over N6 billion to take it to this level. Gitto then came in with a variation request of over N5 billion.
“He then also learnt that the fence and external works were not in the contract. We were still in the process of negotiation when I left as governor,” Sylva added through his spokesperson.
Report of management review committee set up by Dickson administration
Investigations revealed that a report presented by the Financial Management Review Committee set up by Dickson, headed by Chief Timi Alaibe, stated that the Tower Hotel was one of the projects used by Sylva to secure the N50 billion bond from the capital market. The committee declared that the cost of the project was N13.9 billion.
In March 2013, the Dickson administration presented a cheque of N4 billion to a contracting firm to complete the hotel.
Dickson had said on the occasion: “The N4 billion is to enable you to re-mobilise to site. We have engaged world-class consultants from South Africa, who have the experience and expertise in the development of tourism facilities. They will work with the support of the government. We believe that, by the grace of God, the project will be successfully executed.”
Dr. Kelvin Bribena, who served as the Managing Director, Bayelsa State Hotels and Tourism Development Company Ltd during Dickson’s first term, had attributed the delay in completion of the hotel to government’s insistence on best practices.
Nine years later, the project has not moved beyond where Sylva left it.
Governor Douye Diri, who was part of Jonathan’s government and later Dickson’s government, is also bothered about the state of the Tower Hotel. During the maiden retreat for cabinet members in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, in March 2021, he charged the commissioner for trade and investment to think outside the box and explore the possibilities of getting public-private partnership to complete the hotel.
Researcher’s view
Mr. Fortune Alfred, a social commentator and doctoral researcher at the Niger Delta University, expressed sadness over the state of the hotel. According to him, the non-completion of that hotel is a great disservice to the people of the state.
“Although I am not privy to the terms of the contract for that project or the other systemic issues that are responsible for the abandonment and neglect of the Tower Hotel, a project that successive Bayelsa governments have invested huge scarce state resources on, I consider the non-completion of that project a huge disservice to this state.
“You would recall that the Seriake Dickson administration is on record to claim to have spent some billions of Naira to fence and landscape that uncompleted project, while abandoning the main building it was fencing.
“Given the huge sums of state resources that have been sunk into that hotel, each day that it remains uncompleted it remains a state liability rather than asset and fits well into the befitting name former President Goodluck Jonathan called it, namely, Monument of Shame.
“I call on the government to value the hotel and initiate a competitive bid for willing investors to buy, complete and effectively manage it.
“If the government is not favourably disposed towards an outright divestiture of its interest in that property, it can enter into a lease and maintenance contract with willing investors that could complete, manage and maintain the building in proper shape at the expiration of the lease period. Whatever they do, they should ensure the completion of that hotel.”
Mr. Morris Alagoa, who was part of a team that toured the hotel in 2015, representing the Civil Liberties Organisation, said, if not that huge public funds had been pumped into the project, it was no longer worth continuing.
“It is just because funds have been wasted on that project, otherwise, I am of the view that it be completely discontinued or decommissioned. It is not a priority project, in my personal view.
“I was there about seven years ago, as a member representing the CLO in ongoing projects tour by the commissioner for works and infrastructure, who is now deputy governor of the state. We went up to the helipad on top of the building too. The reason for the visit was to convince stakeholders that work was in progress on this Tower Hotel.
“We also heard later that the director of the construction company died after the state government released some funds. And since then, the project has been in limbo. The question is, why should the death of a company director lead to suspension of contractual obligations?”
Alagoa also suggested that the Diri administration should seek the option of public-private partnership on the project, with some period of moratorium on tax to complete the hotel.
Invitation to private investors
The Media Aide to Bayelsa State Governor, Dr. Kolawole Oredipe, told QUEST TIMES that the government is inviting private investors to take over the tower.
“Government is inviting private investors. You know Govt is not good at running businesses, experience has shown that.
“We are providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, security is top notch in Bayelsa. One of the safest states,” he added.
The abandoned hotel handled by Gitto Construction firm has become a home to destitute, street urchins, weed smokers and sex workers.