The Enugu State Government and the Landmark Africa Group have sealed a deal to revamp and further develop the potentials of Nike Lake Resort, Enugu.

The deal is a joint venture in which the state government has given Nike Lake Resort as an asset, while Landmark is going to provide the management and operations of Nike Lake Resort to return it to its former glory, investing up to N10bn in the first phase of the partnership.

Governor Peter Mbah described the Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal as another step that would bring the state closer to his administration’s ambition of growing the state’s economy to $30bn in the next six years.

This was even as the Landmark Group pledged to not only invest the initial N10bn, bring in up to two million visitors into Enugu, annually as well as create jobs, and ramp up the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.

Speaking during a brief deal-signing ceremony at the Government House, Enugu, Mbah who described Nike Lake Resort as iconic, said his administration was intentional in the choice of Landmark Africa Group, given its superlative pedigree and experience in the hospitality industry.

“Landmark Group is a known name in the hospitality sub-sector. Your reputation and experience preceed you. So, I was glad when I became aware that you indicated interest to come and manage and run the Nike Lake Resort.

“The entire country can identify with Nike Lake. Therefore, the optimisation of the activities of the Resort is quite consistent with what we call connecting the dots in line with ambition to grow our economy to $30bn in the next six years. So, we hope that this size of investment you mentioned is going to happen immediately,” he stated.

The governor reiterated his administration’s commitment to doing everything within its powers to build infrastructure, including the Enugu-Opi-Nsukka Road on the Resort’s corridor, to boost business and investment.

“For us, we are intentional and deliberate on attracting investors here and we will do everything as government to see you have your return on investment.

“This year alone, we have earmarked N800bn to provide infrastructure of various forms – the physical infrastructure, the social infrastructure and the digital infrastructure. We are spending hugely to ensure that this place becomes the premier destination for investment, business, tourism, and living. This is in line with our governance philosophy.

“We have awarded and indeed flagged off the dualisation of Enugu-Opi-Nsukka Road. That means another ease of doing business and we will continue to build and create more infrastructure that will see other investors of Landmark’s pedigree come here.”

He advised prospective investors, who are still skeptical to come on board as Enugu was open for business.

In his remarks, the Founder and CEO of Landmark Group, Paul Onwuanibe predicated Landmark’s interest in Nike Lake Resort on Mbah’s infrastructural strides, improved security as well as the facility’s and Enugu’s potential as a tourism hub. He assured that they would restore the Resort to its past glory.

“I know this is one of the states that not only has the position as a good governance state, but also one that has also made great progress in a short period of time under the administration. We want to be greatly part of it and part of that transition that takes Nike Lake to its past glory.

“We will make you proud of the decision you have made today. We will make sure that this is going to be a very big win. We are going to increase the number of jobs here. We intend to invest over N10bn in the first phase of the partnership. And we believe from the employment perspective, from the supply chain, and value chain, from taxes and from visiting numbers, including international visitors, it is going to be a big win for Enugu State,” he stated. (THISDAY)