Akwa Ibom State Government is wielding the big stick against hotels that fail to put their business premises under lock and key as ordered by the Federal Government.
The State Government reiterates that hotels in the Akwa Ibom State must remain closed pending the lift on the ban on the hospitality industry by the Federal Government.
Chairman of the Akwa Ibom Hospitality Monitoring Team, AKHMT, Dr Ini Akpabio announced this while monitoring hotels in the state for compliance to the COVID-I9 guidelines and protocols.
Dr Akpabio, who is also the Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Hotels and Tourism Board said the purpose of the monitoring exercise was to ensure that hotels in the State complied with the directives of government by shutting down their services in order to curb the spread of the covid-19 virus in the state.
He explained that once the Federal Government’s ban on the hospitality industry in the country was lifted, guidelines would be presented to the operators of hotels in the state.
This, he explained, would be in accordance with the safety measures for curbing the spread of the covid-19 virus as stipulated by the Nigeria Center for Diseases Control (NCDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to him, some hotels in the State who were found violating the government directives as regards the hospitality industry were issued warrants to appear before the AKHMT committee on a scheduled date.
The committee chairman however advised hospitality industry operators in the state to be prepared to comply with the guidelines on covid-19 pandemic as stipulated by the NCDC and WHO, when the ban on hospitality industry is finally lifted.
