Radisson Blues.

Part 1

The story begins with an eyesore which had dotted the Government Reservation Area, (GRA) landscape of Benin City for about 4 decades.
Like a haunted building in horror movies, one wondered why previous efforts to bring it to life had been unsuccessful until Godwin Obaseki took one look at the building and decided that the time had come for the building to see the light of day.

It would appear, as all movie scripts go, that this was going to lead to a forever after—-until financial somersaults, accusations and counter accusations began to emerge about the possibility that the State may have been swindled into building a 5-Star hotel to serve personal purposes.

The insinuation is that the former governor shortchanged the State by using State money to build a hotel which he then sold to an individual without competitive bidding or due process.

The big question on the table is who the majority shareholder should be.

In writing this compelling story, Egogonews interviewed Crusoe Osagie, a former Director of Communications with the Obaseki government, Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor, a former commissioner for Digital Economy, Science and Technology in Obaseki’s government and Attorney at Law, PDP Publicity Secretary, Dan Osa-Ogbegie Esq.

Egogonews sat down with the sitting Commissioner of Information, Prince Kassim Afegbua to discuss this subject matter.

Here are the details thus far.

In the quest to facilitate the construction of a 5-Star hotel in Benin City, the State government issued a Bond for N25b. In order to pay this debt, a monthly payment of N385m is being deducted at source from the State’s monthly allocation by way of an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order, (ISPO) until 2031.

Out of this, the sum of N2b was used to acquire the property from the previous owners.

According to Prince Kassim Afegbua, the amount of N2b for the purchase was paid from the coffers of the State. The rest of the money was then placed into the hands of a Consultant appointed by Governor Obaseki for all future disbursements.

It gets more interesting from here.

The contractor to the project who had agreed to build the edifice for N15b went on to request a price variation of N7.5b thus bringing the total sum for construction to N22.5b.

Ogbeide Ifaluyi-Isibor says there was indeed a Bond for N25b in 2022 that had no bearing on the hotel project but there was another for N17b that was accessed in 2024. (Egogonews will provide the correct information in Part 2 with details).

According to Crusoe, about the middle of 2024, the hotel was valued at N65b which he said pointed to the fact that it was a good investment from which the State stood to gain a lot.

Kassim does not disagree that it is otherwise a good investment. The question he seeks answers to are germane.

Firstly, if the project was valued at N65B, where is the valuation report?

Secondly, given this lofty valuation, how much did the ‘new majority’ owner put down that entitles them to 80% ownership, thus leaving the State with a paltry 20%?

Thirdly, if indeed a new owner emerged, by what criteria did they emerge?

Fourthly, if there’s a new owner to the rescue, why is the State still stuck with N385m in monthly payments towards the Bond? How is it that the new owners only purchased assets without liabilities?

In talking to a financial expert, Egogonews gathered as follows:

Firstly, whether the Bond was for N17b or N25b, was the facility taken specifically for the purposes of the hotel project?

Secondly, if that was the case, is the hotel project part of the collateral for the Bond?

Thirdly, if the hotel is not collateral for the Bond, is the State standing in temporarily as collateral for the Bond with the ISPO?

Fourthly, if the above be the case, is there a provision in the agreement for the hotel project to pay the State back?

Now, here’s the kicker, depending on which side an observer takes: one side may call it financial wizardry. The other side calls it Voodoo economics.

Whichever side of the spectrum you are coming from, Dan Osa-Ogbegie says—“he who asserts must prove.”

This matter may be tied up in legal wrangling for a long time, during which period, there may be no 5-Star hotel and no new jobs created, but the monthly payment of N385m continues.

The haunted building continues to be haunted.

The people lose. Always.

Where EGOGO Stands.

Egogo stands with the people. The people of Edo State do not have the appetite for court cases. The people want a quick resolution of this and other matters like the Museum for West African Arts, (MOWAA), to help propel the State into a destination for tourism. The benefits of the presence of a 5-Star hotel in Edo State cannot be overstated. It will become a training ground for our people to build capacity in hotel administration as Benin City presently, according to unverified reports may have the most hotels per square mile of any major city in Nigeria. The toga that Edo wears as a Civil Service town may begin to fall off if we can resolve these issues speedily. We must not allow the State to become tagged as unfriendly to investments. We will all hurt. This leads us to another conversation as it is closely related.

Our highly revered Oba must be protected by our collective knowledge and wisdom. We need the wisdom that comes from over 1,000 years of civilization to work for us at the historic juncture in
which we find ourselves today.

The Palace should be encouraged to come up with creative solutions to its own financing by establishing the Edo Royal Investment Corporation, (ERIC). Using the returned artifacts as leverage, we can raise up to N500b from Edo in Nigeria, Edo in diaspora and institutions of goodwill like the Smithsonian, Carnegie and others to build the Edo Royal Museum City that will have the museum as an anchor project that carries a sprawling Mall and a surrounding city in any direction that the Palace chooses on a 500 acre property. We can go in any of 5 directions to build this city, Agbor road, Ekewan road, Ehor Road, Ekiadolor Road, or Sapele Road. Just like the Duchy of Cornwall which sustains the Prince of Wales or the Crown Estate which delivered £1.1 Billion pounds in profits to the British monarchy in 2024, ERIC will be the Crown Jewel of the Benin monarchy.

It’s time for the spirit of empathetic leadership to begin to prevail in Edo State. Court cases take too long to resolve. There are no good options with the court system. We will all lose. As the case drags, Radisson will withdraw its name as operator. We will lose that prestige. If the State seizes the project by the power of eminent domain, it becomes a pyrrhic victory. Radisson withdraws it’s name. We lose. The Governor needs the wisdom of Solomon at this time to solve these knotty problems. He can constitute an advisory board to help resolve these issues with a mandate towards a peaceful resolution through negotiations.