Mr Adeniyi Ogunsanya, a hotelier, has appealed to the Lagos state government to grant five years tax holiday to hoteliers in the rural communities.
Ogunsanya, the Chairman, Waterfront Hotel and Suites made the plea in an interview in Epe on Monday.
The hotelier said this would serve as the state government support to help in growing the sector.https://scudnewsng.com
He said it has not been encouraging running hotel business in the rural area because of the high cost of maintenance.
“The development at the grassroots is not convincing, and the socioeconomic development is slow at the ancient community of Epe.
“Therefore, the government needs to give five years tax holiday to hoteliers at the grassroots to support the business to grow,” he said.
According to him, I just completed a multimillion worth of hotel at Epe and it has not been easy managing the business because of high cost of maintaining the standard.
He said the cost of diesel to power-on the generator ran into millions on a monthly basis, staff salary and maintenance of the facilities among other payment are exhausting.
Ogunsanya said the government has not been supportive of business growth in the locality.
“What the government is interested in is paying of tax, multiple taxation and other multiple charges which is discouraging.
“The government is expected to provide electricity, infrastructure, access roads and other incentive for business to thrive at the grassroots but the reverse is the case.
“It is the business owners that provide all these basic needs for business to evolve which ordinarily is the government responsibility.
“All these factors are not appealing, and it discourages investors and also kills business easily, “he said.
He added that hoteliers at the rural areas do not get huge patronage compared with hoteliers at the urban areas.
“The employment opportunities, support for socio-economic growth of the community among other development the investors bring into the community, necessitated the call for a tax holiday.
