The Enugu State Government has finalised a partnership with Landmark Africa Group to revitalise and enhance the potential of Nike Lake Resort in Enugu.
This joint venture sees the state government providing Nike Lake Resort as an asset, while Landmark will manage and operate the resort, aiming to restore it to its former glory with an investment of up to N10 billion in the initial phase.
Governor Peter Mbah hailed the Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a significant step towards achieving his administration’s goal of growing the state’s economy to $30 billion within the next six years.
Landmark Group has committed not only to invest the initial N10 billion but also to attract up to two million visitors to Enugu each year, create jobs, and enhance the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
During a brief signing ceremony at the Government House in Enugu, Mbah described Nike Lake Resort as an iconic destination and emphasized that the choice of Landmark Africa Group was intentional, given its outstanding reputation and expertise 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.