Travel/Tourism
Hydro Hotels Limited Loses Assets to AMCON over N600m Debt
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has taken over the assets of Hydro Hotels Limited over N600 million debt.
This was confirmed at the weekend by Mr Jude Nwauzor, who is Head of Corporate Communications Department at the government recovery agency.
He said the seizure was in line with the decision of an appeal court, which affirmed the decision of the Federal High Court in Minna, Niger State.
The Court of Appeal through Justice Habeeb AO Abiru, Justice Abubakar Datti Yahaya and Justice Amina Audi Wambai in Suit No: CA/A/70/2018 involving AMCON vs Hydro Hotels Limited & 1 odr, granted AMCON judgment against Hydro Hotels Limited and its chief Promoter, Mr Isah Mohammed Ladan over the huge sum that has been a subject of litigation.
The ruling which was given in favour of AMCON also ordered the forfeiture of moveable and immoveable assets of Hydro Hotels Limited and Mr Ladan and further granted AMCON full possession and outright power of sale of the properties.
Armed with the order, AMCON through its appointed Debt Recovery Agent – Ajunwa & Co. took effective possession of four top properties of the obligor, which include properties situate at Plot 165/166 MTP. 95A, measuring 0.300 hectares at Farm Center, Tunga Ward, Near New Secretariat, Minna, Niger State; Plot 173 & 174 MTP. 95A consisting of 0.414 hectares; Property at No. 1 Wawa Road, New Bussa, Niger State and Property at No. 82 Garkuwas Residence, New Bussa, Niger State.
The case of Hydro Hotels Limited and its promoter has been a prolonged issue as the loan was purchased by AMCON during the 1st phase of Eligible Bank Assets (EBA) purchases from Finbank (now FCMB) far back in 2010.
Following the purchase, AMCON has been in a long-drawn legal battle with the company since 2015, first winning the case against the obligor at the Federal High Court, Minna in 2017 and now at the Court of Appeal in August 2020.
As a matter of fact, due to the lack of adequate collateral, AMCON’s expanded investigation on Mr Ladan, and this revealed other hidden properties belonging to the obligor located in Niger State, which was hitherto not known to AMCON.
This action to expand the investigation and trace additional assets is in line with Section 49 (1) & (2) of the AMCON Act 2019 (as Amended), which states as follows:
“…49 (1) Where the Corporation has reasonable cause to believe that a debtor or debtor company is the bonafide owner of any movable or immovable property, it may apply to the Court, before or at the time of filing of the action for debt recovery or other like action or at any time after the filing of an action, and before or after the service of the originating process by which such action is commenced on the debtor or debtor company, by motion ex-parte for an interlocutory order granting possession of the property to the Corporation pending the hearing and determination of the debt recovery or other action to abide the decision in such action.
(2) The Corporation shall serve a certified true copy of the order of the court issued under subsection (1) on the debtor or Debtor Company.
(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any enactment, an order made under subsection (1) shall subsist till judgment or a final determination of the action, unless expressly discharged by the Court.”
AMCON commenced full recovery drive against Hydro Hotels Limited and its chief promoter after many failed attempts at reasoning with and negotiating with the obligor. In the process, AMCON exhausted all avenues of peaceful resolution of the matter, according to the statement.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The Chief Commercial Officer of Emirates, Mr Adnan Kazim, has said the airline’s forward bookings have remained robust amid a strong customer demand, spurring the company to ramp up its operations across continents.
According to him, in the past months, the airline has planned and executed the rapid growth of its network operations, reintroducing services to five cities, launching flights to one new destination (Tel Aviv), and adding 251 weekly flights onto existing routes and continuing the roll-out of service enhancements in the air and on the ground.
It was disclosed that Emirates has continued to scale up its A380 operations with the reintroduction of the iconic double-decker across its network: Glasgow (from 26 March), Casablanca from (15 April), Beijing (from 01 May), Shanghai (from 04 June), Nice (from 1 June), Birmingham (from 1 July), Kuala Lumpur (from 01 August), and Taipei (from 01 August).
“Emirates is working hard on several fronts – to bring back operating capacity as quickly as the ecosystem can manage while also upgrading our fleet and product to ensure our customers always enjoy the best possible Emirates experience.
“So far, four of our A380 aircraft have been completely refurbished with our new cabin interiors and Premium Economy seats, and more will enter service as our $2 billion cabin and service enhancement program picks up pace,” Mr Kazim added.
He noted that in the coming months, established routes to Europe, Australia and Africa would be served with more Emirates flights, while in East Asia, more cities are seeing route restarts.
Emirates had upcoming route enhancements by regions, including in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, East Asia, as well as in Africa which covers Cairo: from 25 to 28 weekly flights by 29 October; Dar es Salaam: from 5 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 May and Entebbe: from 6 flights a week to daily flights starting 01 July.
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh
A number of African countries are focusing on promoting extensively inbound tourism. They are luring potential external investors to the tourism industry.
The latest in the southern African region is Mozambique, which has approved a visa exemption for 28 countries for tourism and business.
As the Council of Ministers approved the decree in mid-March, the exemption applies to visitors holding ordinary passports and allows for a 30-day stay, renewable to an additional 60 days.
The model adopted by the Mozambican government is similar to the United States visa waiver program in the sense that it requires travellers to register on a platform for pre-screening at least 48 hours before travelling and to pay a processing fee of MZN-650 (equivalent £8.50).
In the list released, Nigeria, which prides itself as the giant of Africa and the largest economy on the continent, was missing.
The approved countries for this programme are Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The visa exemption is a follow-up to the launch of a platform last December that allowed prospective visitors to apply for an electronic pre-authorization to travel into the country. The introduction of e-visas has seen an increase of over 30 per cent in the number of travellers entering the country compared to the same period in the previous year.
The e-visa platform commits the country to respond to applications within five days, but general feedback places an average response at 24 hours, and the few issues reported are usually created by users not uploading the required documentation.
President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, since August 2022, has taken steps containing 20 reform measures aimed at delivering to visitors and potential investors a path for a more competitive and more accessible country. Mozambique, with an approximate population of 30 million, is one of the 16-member Southern African Development Community.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that foreign airlines’ blocked funds in Nigeria have risen to over $743.7 million.
In a letter dated March 14, 2023, and signed by the Area Manager for West and Central Africa, Dr Samson Fatokun, it was disclosed that the blocked funds rose from $549 million in December 2022 and $662 million in January to $743.7 million.
IATA noted that for over a year, Nigeria had been the country with the highest amount of airlines’ blocked funds in the world.
According to the association, the increasing backlog of international airlines’ blocked funds in Nigeria is a potential threat to foreign direct investment into the country and could affect the operations of airlines leading to job losses.
While appealing to the Minister of Aviation, Mr Hadi Sirika, to intervene in resolving the issues, the association also called on President Muhammadu Buhari to clear all airlines blocked funds before leaving office.
Meanwhile, at a meeting with the IATA and foreign airlines operators in Abuja to discuss the issues, Mr Sirika said the issue of blocked funds sits with the Central Bank of Nigeria and is not what the ministry can handle alone.
He urged international airline operators to be very considerate when dealing with the issues bearing in mind the effects of COVID-19 and the recession the country had experienced.
Recall that in August 2022, IATA’s Regional Vice-President for Africa and the Middle East, Mr Kamil Alawahdi, expressed his disappointment with Nigeria over the amount of airline money blocked from repatriation by the Nigerian government, which was around $464 million then.
“IATA is disappointed that the amount of airline money blocked from repatriation by the Nigerian government grew to $464 million in July.
“This is airline money, and its repatriation is protected by international agreements in which Nigeria participates. IATA’s many warnings that failure to restore timely repatriation will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity are proving true with the withdrawal of Emirates from the market,” he said.
