By RAYMOND OZOJI
Multimillion Naira King Paddy Hotels and Resort has officially opened for business and patronage from the general public. Situated at King Paddy Crescent Nneyi Umueri and very close to the popular Aguleri junction in Anambra-East Local Government Area of Anambra State, the 30 rooms exquisite hotel prides itself as a relaxation point from the Chinua Achebe International Airport Umueri.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of King Paddy Hotels and Resort Mr. Patrick Chukwuma told HEADLINE NEWS that the hotel was established to curtail capital flight from Umueri as visitors often left the community after attending programmes in the area to seek comfort and relaxation elsewhere over absence of good hotels to check-in.
Mr.Chukwuma who is also the MD/CEO of Soft-Net Limited Abuja, said he looked around the community and could not find a good hotel where guests could spend quality time in a very serene environment similar to what they see in the cities. As a result, he decided to establish the multimillion naira hotel in his village Nneyi Umueri so that people could come and experience the hospitality nature of the Omambala region.
He said he comes home most of the times for events and noticed that after the events, people would be rushing out of the community to go and look for where they can sleep because there are no good hotels around.
According to him, King Paddy Hotels and Resort is a world class hotel with about 30 rooms; has water treatment plant, 24 hours electricity supply,, air-conditioned rooms, swimming pool, pool bar, club and WEMA Bank ATM Machine. Other facilities he mentioned were gym house, snooker game, table tennis and more to make life enjoyable and sweet.
Chukwuma who told HEADLINE NEWS that his decision to establish King Paddy Hotels and Resort in his village Nneyi Umueri was in line with Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo's think home philosophy, also appealed to government to look into issues of rural electrification, provision of electric transformers as well as construct rural access roads especially as there is an airport in Umueri community.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of King Paddy Hotels and Resort however commended Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, saying that his government is open to development especially with the Flyover bridge he is constructing at Ekwulobia and other capital projects across the state even as he urged the governor to pay more attention to security, pointing out that a secured environment helps hospitality business to succeed.
Meanwhile the President-General of Umueri community Chief John Metchie (Ife-Omambala) said the establishment of King Paddy Hotels and Resort in Umueri was a bold step taken in the right direction as he believes that it is also grassroots development.
Metchie who was represented at the grand opening of the hotel by the Financial Secretary of Umueri General Assembly Mr. Wisdom Onuora, maintained that they would provide security for the hotel and ensure that people patronized King Paddy Hotels and Resort Nneyi Umueri.
High point of the colourful grand opening of King Paddy Hotels and Resort Nneyi Umueri was the presentation of a big cow to Mr. Patrick Chukwuma by his in-laws coupled with other performances.