Category: Entertainment

Midas Hotel, the first four-star hotel in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, has opened for bussiness, reports SULAIMAN SALAWUDEEN

IT has the distinction of being the first of its type in Ekiti State. Hotels have sprung up in different parts of the state in the past, but it stands in its own class. And it comes with an enchanting name: Midas Hotel. The 56-room four-star hotel in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital is the first of such facility in the Fountain of knowledge. It was commissioned on February 9, by Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The hotel occupies nearly 5,000 square metres of land on Midas Avenue close to Ayemi Motorpark. It is almost 270 metres off Ado-Iworoko road, Opopogbooro, Ado-Ekiti.

The hotel is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. Its immediate conveniences include its 56 luxury rooms/suites and a presidential luxury apartment of four bedrooms, all fitted with plasma LCD TVs.

Also accessible in all rooms are therapeutic mattresses, weighing scales, bathrooms fitted with functional Jacuzzi and safe boxes for the keeping of valuables.

The classical finishing of the outdoor fixtures is a statement of the taste of the initiators; its iron fence opens to a sprawling parking space large enough to accommodate more than 100 vehicles.

The opening which attracted indigenes and non indigenes coincided with the birthday of the governor who saw it as a special “birthday gift.”

The host community presented a gift to the hotel management, saying the facility has brought blessings to the community.

Fayemi came with his wife, Erelu Bisi, Chief of Staff, Mr Yemi Adaramodu, and other personalities.

The Chairman of the hotel, Prof Clement Olowokande, relived the experience of some of the directors of the hotel which led to its establishment.

Olowokande said the hotel is a child of necessity.

“It is borne out of a genuine desire to create a first class hospitality haven in Ado where hotel buyers can derive maximum comfort, excellent and quality service and also have value for their money,” he said.

“What we are offering at Midas is a complete hospitality service of international standards with the bench mark of utmost satisfaction, without compromising the desire and expectation of buyers. We have here a hi-tech hardware in terms of facilities and software in terms of tested, trusted and polished personnel.

“Our niche here, apart from the facilities, lies in our unique personalised services unobtainable elsewhere in the state. We are more after a relationship with the customers than their hard earned money,” he boasted.

Governor Fayemi expressed appreciation for the great gift of yet another hotel which he saw as a befitting addition to about four others he had earlier inaugurated since he assumed office.

The governor briefly outlined efforts so far taken by his administration to make the state a haven of investment, assuring that efforts would be sustained in making sure that more businesses are attracted to the state through initiatives in agriculture, tourism and small scale industrial ventures.

Fayemi said: “I can confirm that in the hospitality segment alone, this state has witnessed investment in the region of about 3 billion naira in the last two years. In the last two years, we have commissioned three other hotels and this is another one and I know that very soon, another big one will be inaugurated.”

Noting that Ikogosi resort is another home for tourists and investors, the governor asserted that business succeeds in a conducive environment where people get comfort and are equally assured of their safety.

“We have tagged this year a year of empowerment and consolidation. I will like to assure the management of Midas Hotel of the full cooperation of the state government in fulfilment of our deliberate policy of promoting trade and investment in the state by providing a very favourable condition for genuine investors.”

In his goodwill message, Director General of Ekiti Enterprise Development Agency (EEDA) Mr. Oscar Ayeleso said the coming of the hotel would consolidate the investment status of the state.

The hotel, Ayeleso said, will surely promote investment and economic growth in the state.

Thanking the investors for the great move, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Adeyemo Adejuyigbe invited other investors to come to the state.

“We are willing to have as many investors as possible in Ekiti. The government is trying to fix everything that will attract investors to the state. There is a good road network, stable water and electricity supply and other amenities,” Oba Adejuyigbe said.

Others in attendance at the event included the Olukoro of Ikoro, Oba Adebamji Adeleye; Oniropora of Iropora, Oba Joel Ajayi; the Alaakene of Ikenne, in Ogun State, Oba Adeyinka Onatade.

The Onikoro of Ikoro-Ekiti, the town of origin of the founders of the hotel, Oba Adeleye expressed joy for witnessing a great idea which was the brainchild of his own town’s people.

The old boys of St Patrick’s College (SPACO), Ikot Ansa, Calabar, Cross River State, have celebrated their patron, Saint Patrick, at the Catholic Church of Assumption, Ikoyi, Lagos. NNEKA NWANERI reports.

AS students, they slept on a long wooden plank supported by two blocks. Any student who brought a mattress to school faced expulsion. Then, their only means of transportation were bicycles. These bicycles had first class front seats which cost six pence. The second class back seats cost three pence.

They left all they had at home and made use of what the school provided.

Today, these ‘boys’ looked back and smiled at what their alma mater shaped them into: hardworking, humble and diligent men. They are the old boys of St Patrick’s College (SPACO), Ikot Ansa, Calabar. Cross River State.

Last Sunday was the feast of St Patrick, their patron saint. The Lagos State branch of the Old Students Association gathered that morning at the Catholic Church of Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi, Lagos, for a thanksgiving mass to celebrate the day.

All St Patrick’s alumni associations in diaspora also celebrated the day. Though it is the Lent season, it didn’t allow that to stop them from marking the day.

Soon after the mass, they swarmed into the Ball Room of the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, for a reception.

The new grey haired ‘boys’ came with their wives. They had a swell time. Yellow and green fabric and leaves ran through the hall. The chairs and tables were decorated in white. In the middle of each table was a long glass vase of flowers with fresh green leaves. To the left of the hall were food stands stocked with varieties of continental and African dishes.

The setting was more like that of a picnic in a garden. The ambience of the hall reflected the patriotic thinking of the ‘students’.

The ‘Patricians, as they are called, sang their college anthem and songs of praise with pride. They wore their school blazers and ties bearing the school logo. Complementing it with white shirts, they looked more like the pupils they once were. Many of those present left the school more than 60 years ago.

Their wives wore a uniform headgears; other guests were in their Sunday best: red Igbo caps, Yoruba caps and various styles and shapes of headgears.

SPACO Alumni Association National President Chief Charles Ifeanyi, in an address, said the members were proud to have attended the school, adding that they had a solid foundation which led to their success in life. He paid tribute to the late members of the association.

He condemned the government for taking over missionary schools.

“Catholic missionary schools have been known to inculcate traits of loyalty and hard work in the young ones that have kept us where we are today. Those who leave from missionary schools are moral catalysts that spread around; but there has been a decadence since the government took the schools from them,” Ifeanyi said.

The Lagos branch President, Mr Sigsimond Fernandez, in his welcome speech, said the reunion on the feast day has come to stay as a yearly ritual.

He talked about the 80-year-old school.

“The St Patrick Missionary Society founded it. The motto of the college is: COR MUNDUN MANUS FIRMA VERBUM CONSTANS. The type of education we received in this college is anchored on these six Latin words. The type of education given to us not only exposed us to open and broadmindedness of heart, it strengthened our hands through the dignity of labour and above all, it made us honest Christian gentlemen whose words can be trusted at all times without equivocation.”

Fernandez also spoke of the association’s plan to rehabilitate the college’s kitchen and dormitories which are in bad shape. This, he said, will give the new generation students an institution with physical structures conducive to learning.

Some benefactors were given awards for their support in giving the college a new lease of life. They were Mr Ibe Kachukwu and Mr Sylvanus Edet aka Old Major. His name was then changed to Old General by the old students for doing what generals do.

An alumnus of the school, Mr Dennis Okoro, in telling their story, praised the students who passed through the school as men who can survive in any condition they find themselves.

He recalled that the college in Okoransa Local Government, Area of Cross River State catered for the rich and the poor under Reverend Fathers who served as the college’s principal officers.

He narrated how he, an 11-year-old boy, would trek to a five-mile camp to get fresh water from a stream. After fetching it, on return to the dormitory, the seniors take it all.

“Back then, we knew who we were and we could never go wrong. We are forever grateful because now, many years later, the bond of what we passed through as boarding students is more stronger than the bond of blood,” Okoro said.

His motto was: ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child.’ Because he didn’t want his students to become spoilt, he didn’t spare the rod. Today, these ‘students’ are thanking him for that. On March 9, they gathered at their alma mater, Hope Waddell Training Institution (HWTI) in Calabar, Cross River State, for the funeral of their principal, Elder Effiong Ukpong Aye.  For many of them, it was a home coming.NICHOLAS KALU reports

Hope Waddell, the third secondary school in Nigeria, was the first to be established in the East by the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1895.

Some of its notable alumni include Nigeria’s first President Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe; first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Prof Eni Njoku; Nigerian-American anthropologist and Professor John Ogbu; politician, poet, journalist and premier of the defunct Mid-Western Region Dennis Osadebay; and former Governor of Eastern Region Akanu Ibiam, among a host of others.

The 118-year-old institution played host to some visitors on March 9 when the remains of an old student, teacher, house master, vice-principal and two-time principal, Elder Efiong Ukpong Aye, fondly called Ete Aye, were buried.

The old students and the dignitaries spoke glowingly of the late teacher who gave his life to developing the society through education.

It was a homecoming of sorts for the old students who converged on Calabar, from far and near, to pay their last respects to their ex-principal.

For the old boys, who had not seen for long, it was an opportunity to reestablish contact and also make new ones. It was an emotional reunion of sorts as they recalled the old school days, especially “peppered strokes of the cane” from the late Ete Aye, which helped shape their lives.

Ete Aye died on November 28, last year, seven months after he lost his wife, Miranda.

He was 94.

The late Aye was an author of many books and a great historian of the Efik Kingdom and the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria.

In their tributes, many hailed the late Aye for his contribution to human development.

The late Aye’s casket was carried in a hearse from his house along the Parliamentary Village to the Eleven-eleven Roundabout from where students escorted it to the school. A few metres away from the institution, old students took over the casket and led it into the school where Aye’s remains laid in-state for 30 minutes. The body was then carried by the old students again into the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Hope Waddell Parish, for the funeral service. From there, it was carried to the old chapel where it was laid to rest.

The funeral was more of a celebration as everyone felt.

President of the Hope Waddell Old Students Association (HWOSA), Calabar Branch, Mr Bassey Mensah said the late Aye deserved such a worthy burial.

Mensah, who had organised the celebration of the late Aye’s 94th birthday last year, said: “No sacrifice will be too much to honour this man who lived a life of service to make many of us what we are today.”

He said it was the late Aye’s wish that he be buried in the institution, having given most of his life to it as a student, teacher housemaster, vice principal and principal.

“It was his wish that when he died, he should be buried there since his life was about the school. So, he wanted to be buried in the school. He could as well be buried in his house since he was a chief, but he did not want that. He wanted Hope Waddell. Everything about him was Hope Waddell. So, that was his wish,” Mensah said.

He said other principals, especially foreign missionaries, were also buried in the school.

“The man had impacted on us. He was completely disciplined. His philosophy was spare the rod and spoil the child. Then we did not appreciate it. We thought he hated us. But now we are most grateful to him. The man did not joke with his cane. No matter who you are, the man would flog you. He would always buy bunches of canes,” he said.

Deputy Governor of Cross River State Efiok Cobham, who conveyed the condolences of the state government, described the late Aye as a man who lived a worthy, amiable and fulfilled life and left lasting impressions.

Former Governor Donald Duke described the late Aye as a “quintessential gentleman, strict disciplinarian, an astute administrator and, indeed, an erudite scholar of renown,” whose calling was sustaining the legacies of his forbears.

The Principal of the school, Mr Edet Inyang, said the late Aye stood for quality education and discipline.

“He was a man whose deeds were loved and cherished by all around him. He was a rare gem and an icon for generations yet to come. Your legacies shall certainly stand the test of time,” Inyang said.

An old student of the class of 1960, Offiong Orok Asuquo, an architect, described the late Aye as one of the greatest black men in West Africa, who trained a lot of students.

Another old student, Mr David Edem, said: “We are humbled and very appreciative of the yester-years’ hard and painful strokes of the cane which to all intents and purposes could be likened to vanilla ice cream of today, which, honestly, made us whom we are today.”

Justice Michael Edem, another alumnus, said: “The fulfilment of being moulded under the feet of a legend like Ete Aye is itself legendary. Never in the history of adulation had so much endearment been given by old students to one teacher. We cannot sufficiently thank him.”

Elder Emmanuel Ewa, another old boy, said: “Prof Aye was a disciplinarian, always truthful. He directed his students towards future development. I remember his words: ‘My boy don’t blame or greet me when you will be a drop out and become a truck pusher so read your books’. Elder Aye was also a simple man. You do not overspend for him over luxury things. His training contributed to the success of all old students today in various professions.”