Some hoteliers in Osun State have pleaded with Governor Rauf Aregbesola to offset the debt incurred by guests of the state government who lodged in their facilities.
The hoteliers made the plea in Osogbo on Saturday via a statement by their spokesperson, Babatunde Karim.
Although the hoteliers lauded Gov. Aregbesola’s policies in the tourism and hospitality business, they said the bills incurred by the state government’s guests had crippled some hotels.
They, therefore, urged him to settle bills incurred from March 2014 to date to enable them continue in business.
The statement read, “We are gasping for breath now and business has slowed down because of poor patronage and indebtedness to many hotels in Osogbo. We remain a strong supporter of the administration of Ogbeni Aregbesola and hope he will take us into consideration while taking critical decision on how to stabilise private businesses in the state.
“It is pertinent to note here that all policies and programmes of Aregbesola’s administration in the tourism and hospitality sector in the state, have impacted positively on our business, but we urge him to take urgent steps to further protect our investments from crumbling by paying promptly for the services we have rendered.
“Many hotels are retrenching because of huge amount owed them by government. Some could no longer cope and have dropped out of business. We urge him to please pay us the money to prevent total collapse of the sector”.
As at the time of publishing this report, the Osun government was yet to officially respond to the claim of the hoteliers.
