Return of peace has opened up Plateau for more investment opportunities —Jelka

Mr Danlami Jelka

Most of the hotels owned by the Plateau State government and constructed more than thirty years ago, like the Hill Station Hotel and Plateau Hotel, are in tatters. The Managing Director/CEO, Plateau Investments and Property Development Company (PIPC), Mr Danlami Jelka, spoke with ISAAC SHOBAYO on the ongoing efforts by the state government to resuscitate the moribund hotels and other state assets begging for attention to boost tourism and investment opportunities.

As the Managing Director of Plateau Investment and Property Development Company, what essentially are the core operational mandates of the company?

Plateau Investments and Property Development Company (PIPC) is 100 percent owned by the Plateau State government as it is the government’s investment vehicle to try and drive economic development within the state. And you will recall that it used to be regional — the regions in Nigeria had investment houses, and, eventually, the states began to copy from that in order to pursue their economic ambitions and to pursue developments. Largely, the states came in from my understanding of what economic growth is because the citizens or the people within the area may not have had the economic wherewithal to be able to establish economic entities like companies, industries that will drive the economy. So there was no, literally, the private sector. The government came in to try and establish the presence of the private sector.

PIPC started as PIC in 1976. Then later on, we were merged with the housing corporation to acquire the property development aspect. PIPC was responsible for the establishment of a lot of industries in Plateau State, whether by acquisition of shares or by being the sole entrepreneur. We were able to bring in Jos International Brewery (JIB) through the Plateau State government. We also had Plateau Hotel, and then we are also shareholders in Hill Station Hotel, where we have eventually become the largest shareholding group in the Hill Station Hotels. Plateau Hotel is 100 percent owned by the Plateau State Government.

Most of the assets of the state, such as Jos International Brewery, Hill Station Hotel, Plateau Hotel and others, are moribund today. What is the PIPC in conjunction with the state government doing to inject life into them?

When I came on board, [the governor] gave me directives to the effect that I should ensure the revival of most of these [companies] that were driving economic activities in Plateau State that have become moribund. So that was his express directive, to do that since, within the purview of the PIPC, we should be able to resuscitate them first as a major step in trying to revive our own economy on the Plateau.

We also aimed to create an enabling environment for private investors to come and partner with us. Our economy is largely agrarian, and so we know that the government does not have all the resources that are required to turn around an economy of this size into a functional economy. So we need partnerships with the private sector, and so we are supposed to create an enabling environment, and that’s what we have been doing.

So when we came on board, we tried as much as possible to embark on the evaluation of the moribund businesses, and we categorised them into the tourism and hospitality sector. We also have assets in the industrial production sector. We were able to prioritise and look at the low-hanging fruits that will bring quick results to the government and be a cornerstone in trying to rebase our own economic activities in the state. And so it was no surprise that Hill Station and Plateau Hotel came on board as the best options that we have in trying to pluck the low-hanging fruits.

What steps are you taking to revive them?

You will recall that Hill Station was opened in 1938, and it was one of the first-generation hotels in Nigeria. It has grown to have about 177 rooms. Eventually, they ran into one little problem or the other — misfortunes of capital base. They had a very low capital base, so they were not able to inject capital, or they didn’t have enough capital to continue fixing their assets, to continue revamping and modernising the hotel for business continuity. So, that brought them to a situation where they were not able to meet up with a lot of their activities financially, including staff emoluments and staff payments — their salaries were not paid and, eventually, the staff embarked on a strike. We briefed His Excellency, and he was able to give us the go-ahead to begin to lay down some kind of processes for intervention.

We were able to have some good people expressing interest. But for one reason or another, it didn’t work out. So we had to make sure that we are able to find an investor that is worth their salt in order to bring us, first of all, a hotel standard that will be the equivalent of what Hill Station or Plateau Hotel was some 20–25 years ago.

So what’s the name of the investor?

STROM Infrastructure which is into infrastructure development, and their understanding of what we wanted is what struck us. But before we even got them, on our own, we started laying the foundation. Part of the things that we did was to engage some hotel architects. A hotel of this nature, if you want to turn it into a three-star, at least an international standard, you may need to be able to carry out an assessment of your own so that it can put you in a good position to discuss with whoever is interested. So PIPC, on behalf of the Hill Station board, was able to contract DAA Architects that specialise in developing hotels. You know, you don’t want to go and bring something that will be an overkill, and then you end up without patronage. So, we did a feasibility study, and we found out that international bodies come into Jos. They come into Plateau State for a lot of activities. And then we also found out that Jos is an escape place for a lot of people that may be fatigued, either in Lagos or Port Harcourt.

So through the feasibility studies, we found that within just Plateau State, Bauchi, the southern part of Kaduna, and Gombe, and, in fact, a lot of the surrounding states — Nasarawa — there is no standard three-star hotel in all of these states. So it was a no-brainer that if we are able to rehabilitate Hill Station, it will eventually lead to some patronage.

What degree of cooperation and dedication does the state government have with STROM infrastructure?

I’ll bring you to that. So that was what we did. And because PIPC is doing this on behalf of Hill Station — we own 76 per cent of Hill Station — and so you recall I told you, PIPC is owned 100 percent by Plateau State government. You know there are certain business environment things, enabling environment things that only the government can provide — assurances of water supply, assurances of roads, assurances of many other related things. Maybe tax breaks here and there. That is where the Plateau State government comes in. But other than that, there’s nothing that the Plateau State government has come into. So it’s just to provide an enabling environment for the investor to function.

There must be some degree of security if hospitality and tourism are to flourish. Has this been incorporated into your plan?

These investors were happy to come in because of the conducive environment itself, and the government getting to two years in office has done a lot to stabilise the state. At the moment, there is peace on the Plateau; the investors are quite impressed with the efforts that the government has made on the ground. So it’s a working relationship — those are the responsibilities of the government. And gladly, the government was able to demonstrate that the present security measures that they have taken will be sustained and even improved on, so no wonder the investors are willing to bring their money and to come and invest on the Plateau.

Aside from the physical infrastructure, Hill Station and Plateau Hotels had unpaid staff salaries for over three years prior to their closure. Have the salaries been cleared?

Yes, that was a problem. It was a problem that we considered because the investors also raised that point that they will not be responsible for the old staff. So what has happened is that the government came in and bailed PIPC out and provided the money for the staff to be paid. So at the moment, we have settled the staff. We have settled 50 per cent of their salaries. We are going to further settle their final payments within the next month or so.

You mentioned Hill Station Hotel; what is PIPC doing regarding Plateau Hotel and Rock Hotel which have been abandoned for more than three decades?

It is under our purview, together with the Plateau State Tourism Corporation. We are jointly working as a team to rehabilitate — it is the same process that I was telling you about Hill Station that we have adopted for Plateau Hotel. So they also have a separate investor that has also reported to the site and has commenced the rehabilitation of the place. As I’m talking to you now, if you go to Hill Station, to Plateau Hotel, they are a beehive of activities right now.

Apart from these hotels that your organisation is trying to rejuvenate, what other things are being done to attract investors to the state to give Plateau’s economy a solid base?

These are the things we are talking about. We have been able to attract, initially, for the tourism sector. You agree that in tourism, the hospitality sector of the tourism industry is very critical. And so in Plateau State, we are naturally endowed with tourism. We are the Home of Peace and Tourism. And so now that peace is returning and there are plans to sustain that, we want to pursue the tourism aspect. And so we come to understand that hospitality is a critical factor in attracting tourists to come here as a destination. And so we have identified that the Hill Station project, that Plateau Hotel project, will give us a three-star status, and that will begin to attract certain tourists that perhaps would not come here because they didn’t have the correct or the right accommodation. So that’s one. Two, we are concluding investment negotiations with an investor on Solomon Lar Amusement Park. That agreement will be signed, maybe in the nearest future, in a few weeks to come. We also have been able to sign an agreement where an investor has taken custody of some part of the BARC Farms to begin livestock feedlot, to begin to run a feedlot business there.

What plan do you have for the Rock Hotel, which is gradually becoming a relic due to abandonment by successive administrations in the state. More so, if completed, can it meet the present-day standard of three or four-star hotel?

(Cuts in) Well, I don’t understand. I don’t see why people will say that even if it is completed, it may not meet up with the standard. Our goal is to get a partner, you see, because like these things, these assets — like I told you earlier — the government may not necessarily have the resources to do these things on their own. So it’s a partnership arrangement that we are driving. And there are a few people that have indicated interest in Rock Hotel, and we know that if the deal is consummated, they have the wherewithal and the capacity to bring it to a level of a four-star, five-star hotel. And so those fears should not be there. We are working hard to source one investor, and, God willing, it will come, just like the one at Hill Station in Plateau State has come. We also are working on that one.

As you are trying to reposition these hotels owned by the Plateau State government, other private ones are springing up. Don’t you think the coming on board of these hotels might be a threat to the private ones?

I think the thing there is competition. That’s the word — competition. They may be compelled to scale up to whatever level. And you know how the market is. The market is price-sensitive. There are people that will go for different categories of hotels. So to me, it is no threat. Also, it will give visitors to Plateau State the opportunity to make a choice; it is not a demerit but rather a competitive spirit. In fact, it may even bring down the price of hotel accommodation in Jos.

Isaac Shobayo