As lockdown continue to hit hotels in Nigeria, President of the Hotel Owners Forum, Abuja (HOFA) Chief Chike Ezeudeh, has said that some hotel owners are planning to lay off staff members due to dwindling fortunes.
Ezeudeh said the hospitality industry has been badly affected by coronavirus such that there’s no patronage by guests anymore.
He decried that hotels owners were still paying for social amenities despite the lockdown, a situation he said, was making things more difficult.
“After the lockdown, what happens? Some may be able to pay while some may not be able to pay. How do you pay staff salary, maintain facilities, and pay AEDC, FCT Water Board, AMAC, FCDA, FIRS, where do you get the money and resources?
“It may lead to so many hotels reducing staff and you know what the impact will be on the economy. Laying off staff members is what we never envisaged, so both the owners and the workers have to find a way to reconcile the situation,” he said.
“Because some of the hotels have closed down. The workers are no more there and apart from that we still have to pay all the bills. We are the second employers of labour after the government; we want to see what the government can do as a palliative for us.”
He called on the government to provide palliatives to hoteliers to cushion the effect of the lockdown on their businesses.
