Fifteen years after it was abandoned, the Hotel Presidential, Enugu, came alive yesterday, with its commissioning as Governor Peter Mbah declared that his administration was building an economy where talent and hard work would determine outcomes.
 
The 100-room capacity Hotel Presidential, built by the Dr Micheal Okpara administration of the old Eastern Region, had laid in ruins since 2008, defiling efforts of past administrations to rehabilitate it following alleged paucity of funds and court cases.
Through a concessionaire, Amber Hospitality, the Mbah administration brought life to the iconic hotel with its rehabilitation.
 
Commissioning the facility in Enugu yesterday, Mbah told a cheering crowd that the recovery of the hotel was part of his administration’s determination to make Enugu the preferred destination for investment, tourism, living and leisure.
 
Explaining that his administration pledged to make dormant assets productive, and turn liabilities into engines of growth, he stated that the facility is a strategic enabler of his administration’s growth plan, comprising the ambitious target to grow Enugu’s economy seven-fold to at least $30 billion and to achieve a zero per cent poverty headcount rate.

”He added that to do this, his administration decided to “unlock sectors that create jobs at scale, deepen our tax base through growth, not higher rates, and crowd in private capital.”