The Nation Newspaper

Tag: TINAPA

  • A new lease of Life for Tinapa

    A new lease of Life for Tinapa

    Driving down to Tinapa Resort from the main expressway leading to Odukpani, one feels the presence of nature with the hundreds of rubber trees lined up in a neat row. The resort itself, for first-time visitors, is always awe- striking.

    At conception, completion and opening, it held so much hope. It was supposed to be the beacon that would jump-start the tourism transformation of the Nigeria. But about six years since the doors of the business resort were opened and free trade zone kicked off, the lofty dreams and high hopes that heralded the project are giving way to disillusion as the project, so far, has failed to fly.

    Rather,the resort has been lurching from one kind of challenge to the other. Some entrepreneurs have braved the odds to set up businesses.

    Meanwhile, the huge facilities available for business are lying waste. The space has been overtaken by rodents. At inception, the vision was that six years down the line, the resort ought to be fully operational, both as a shopping resort for the whole of Africa and as a leisure resort.

    On the level of the leisure, the water park within the complex is active, receiving healthy amount of visitors, most especially during festivities.

    Lakeside Hotel, almost within the complex, is doing well under an experienced and competent indigenous manager. This has helped in steadily attracting business to the hotel.

    The Tinapa Free Zone and Resort also has facilities for retail and wholesale activities as well as leisure and entertainment. For consumers, the resort has about 80,000 square metres of lettable space for retail and wholesale made up of four emporiums of 10,000 square metres square each and smaller shops, warehouses and so on.

    An entertainment strip contains a casino, digital cinema, children’s arcade, restaurants, a mini amphitheatre, a night club and pubs. There is an artificial tidal lake that feeds from the Calabar River, a water park / leisure land and a parking space for about 4,000 cars.

    Business facilities include an open exhibition area for trade exhibitions and other events and a movie production studio commonly called “Studio Tinapa” or “Nollywood”.

    Tinapa was initiated by the former Governor Donald Duke as a way to boost business and tourism in the state. Over $350 million was spent on initial development. The first phase of Tinapa Business Resort and Free Zone, Calabar, was commissioned on the April 2, 2007. It is a 10-kilometre drive from Calabar by a roundabout route, but the Federal Government is building a more direct 2.5- kilometre access road to link it with the city. All these have not been optimally put to use.

    Although the resort is owned by the Cross River State, there are reports that due to the huge debt of the resort, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is to take over the management of the resort following a settlement agreement with the Cross River State government for the transfer of its controlling interest in Tinapa.

    By the agreement, AMCON is to buy back Tinapa’s debts, totalling N18,509.744.797.05, and provide the sum of N26 billion for the revitalization and resuscitation of the resort to reposition it as a private sector driven enterprise.

    Many in the industry see this as the tonic needed by the resort to rebound. The Nation spoke with the Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River State Governor, Mr. Chris Itta, on the AMCON take-over the resort. He explained that it was not the government of the state that negotiated with the AMCON to take over the place to reduce the huge debt burden currently hanging on the neck of the state as a result of the Tinapa project.

    He said by the arrangement, AMCON will not only remove the huge debt burden but also inject the necessary funds needed to revitalize the resort to the tune of about 26 billion. Itta said the founding vision for the project was for it to run optimally and create employment opportunities for the citizens of the state.

    He added that it was not that Cross River State government is divesting totally from the project, rather the state was still retaining a certain percentage equity.

    Itta explained further that the deal with AMCON would allow the state government to put money into other critical sectors. He said every month, the state government spends about N100m to run Tinapa. He added that during the Nigerian Bar Associaition (NBA) conference, more than N80m was spent to get the air conditioners working.

    He said the deal should not be politicised, but rather the concern is how it would help the state move forward and the government impact more positively on the people.

    For many tourism stakeholders, it is like the dawn of a new era that will place Tinapa on the path of achieving the vision behind the project. The fortune of the Nigerian tourism industry is intertwined with the success and failure of tourism in Cross River State, being the only tourism destination in Nigeria.

  • $600m Tinapa under threat

    $600m Tinapa under threat

    The $600 million worth Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort has not had it smooth since it was inaugurated six years ago. Though a state project, the Federal Government encouraged it. But, policy inconsistency is working against it. Now, some investors are threatening to pull out, writes Nicholas Kalu (Calabar).

    In the beginning there was no Tinapa. It was all 265 hectares of ‘virgin’ land until Donald Duke, as governor of Cross River State, had a dream to make the state capital, Calabar, the hub of business and leisure in the West African sub-region. Its ground-breaking ceremony was performed in Adiabo, on the outskirts of Calabar, in 2005. And on August 15, 2006, the Federal Government declared the Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort a Free Trade Zone pursuant to the provisions of Section 1(1) of the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Act No. 63 of 1992. Investors saw this declaration as the tonic needed to realis7e Duke’s vision. The excitement was palpable.

    Facilities available at the Tinapa Resort include a pre-built retail and wholesale accommodation on an excess of 65,000m2 lettable area composed of Four Emporia of 10,000m2 each, several line shops, warehouses; an open exhibition area for trade exhibitions and other events; an entertainment strip with spaces for a casino, an eight-screen digital cinema, international standard restaurants, a night club and pubs; an entertainment Centre with a functional Games Arcade and a mini amphitheatre.

    Others include the Tinapa Lake, an artificial tidal lake, which feeds from the Calabar River, where water sport activities including fishing, can be undertaken; a man-made beach where leisure events can be held, a 243-room international three star hotel christened Tinapa Lakeside Hotel built in 2008; and a movie production studio known as Studio Tinapa. It is said to be the most modern film production studio in Nigeria.

    Tinapa also boasts of a water park/ leisure land comprising a collection of children and adult size pools, water slides, a wave pool-surfers delight, a lazy river as well as a bar and restaurant; a parking space for about 4,000 cars; a truck terminal; a helipad; an independent power plant that ensures adequate and uninterrupted power supply to the zone; over 6 kilometres of perimeter fencing with a good security network; over 15 kilometers of underground piping for sewage and storm water; a sewage treatment plant; and a dedicated Police Post that provides security for the Zone along with a team of private security organisations.

    On April 2, 2007, the resort was commissioned amid high hopes of rapidly transforming the economic fortunes of the state. Calabar, it seemed, was ready for business. But, this was not to be as in the first couple of years, the resort seemed inactive. Criticism trailed the $600 million investment. Proponents of the project attributed the lull to the lack of a gazette on the operational regulations, policy and guidelines of the zone. According to an official of the resort, “Tinapa started well with lots of big brands and investors taking shops, but Customs were all over us and everybody closed shop. The issue was a gazette. Eventually, we got it.”

    The said gazette was ratified by the National Assembly after political horse-trading in 2009 and after a brief lull, things began to look up for the resort. T-Mart, Woodin, Tradewinds, Vlisco, Bio-Energy, BNL Engineering, Wiskam International, Courtney Michaels, among a host of others, took shops in the zone.

    Leisure activities in the resort also witnessed an explosion, with the water park, arcade others getting an unprecedented number of customers.

    Managing Director of the Resort, Bassey Ndem said they were witnessing high volume of trade and investment.

    Ndem said the Tinapa Lakeside Hotel, formerly known as Amber Tinapa Hotel, was adjudged as the best in the city by tourists and other Independent assessors who have made use of the facilities in recent time.

    “We are witnessing very fast improvement in the resort. The Tinapa Lakeside Hotel has been adjudged as the best in Calabar by tourists and independent sources,” he said.

    According to him, such commendations put more pressure on the management to maintain the momentum.

    The managing director said the Water Park section of the resort was now a bee-hive of activities with people from all works of life enjoy their leisure time at the park.

    “People come from as far as Lagos and overseas to have nice times in the park and we are working hard to make it one of the best in the World. We are improving facilities in the park and by the time we finished, it will be world class,” he said.

    Public Relations Officer of the Resort, Paul Eko, added: “Tinapa is the place to be. The hotel under the new management was able to hit the N100 million mark in a month. We hosted 9, 000 delegates and we have the only facility that can have 10, 000 people under one roof air-conditioned. Tinapa is doing very well in terms of leisure and trade. The studio too is doing very well.”

    That was until a month ago. Some of the tenants in the zone, who have been using the Onne Port, Rivers State for the transportation of their goods to Tinapa and the Calabar Free Trade Zone ( CFTZ) complained that they have been experiencing unnecessary delays in the clearing of their containers.

    Niger Delta Report gathered that Customs wants duties paid for Tinapa-bound goods, a development which did not go down well with the investors. They say since they operate in a Free Trade Zone, they are not bound to pay such duties. As a result of this, the investors have threatened to close shop.

    The investors, both local and foreign, blamed the Comptroller-General of Customs, who they alleged was illegally imposing import duties on goods coming into Tinapa. The investors claim to have lost millions of naira on demurrage due to the non-clearance of containers coming to Tinapa at Onne Port.

    Nnamso Nyong, who spoke on behalf of the investors, said: “The laws establishing Tinapa Business and Free Zone Resort recognises the fact that Tinapa is the transit hub for goods within the sub-regional Africa and the existing gazette says Tinapa is 100 percent import duty free.

    “Customs has no right to hold any consignment coming to Tinapa. For Customs to come and ask us to pay duties in Onne is a total violation of the law establishing Tinapa. Nigerian Customs is frustrating us.

    “We are indeed shocked and bewildered why customs at Onne command stopped the processing of investors consignments which are on transit to Tinapa Free Trade Zone. This unilateral illegal acts by the Customs at Onne in stopping Tinapa bound consignment is against the spirit and letter of the gazette law that set up Tinapa as a Free Trade Zone.

    “We view this Customs serial impunity with regards to trade transactions in Tinapa as a calculated attempt to truncate business activities within the Free Trade Zone, thus rendering all human, material and financial resources invested in establishing the zone as a total waste.”

    Nyong said the action of the customs have already started having negative effect on their investments and has put at risk the job of about 20,000 employees who are employed directly and indirectly by the affected investors.

    They also accused the custom authorities of imposing duties on their containers deliberately to frustrate investors in the Southsouth and Southeast.

    The investors said “shops are shutting down, people are losing their jobs, demurrage is increasing every hour on these containers at Onne Seaport,” whereas others are busy smuggling rice through the Katsina borders.

    They said the situation has led to “loss of revenue running into millions of naira, loss of confidence from trade partners, inability to honour letters of credit hinged upon receipt of goods, inability to meet financial obligations, loss of supplier’s confidence and closure of shops and loss of employment with its multiplier effect to the host communities and Cross River at large as 20,000 Cross Riverians will become jobless”.

    An investor in the zone, Chris Nedum, said for over four weeks, Customs has not cleared their goods as the process of transfer has not been done and “my company has lost over N50 million and our foreign partners are now seeing us as fraudsters”.

    An Indian investor, who gave his name as Poadeep Kumav, decried the activities of the Customs and blamed the Federal Government for policy inconsistency.

    Eko said: “There seems to be a mix up because the Customs, which was established under a law, the management is acting outside the law. Tinapa has a gazette that was approved and ratified by the National Assembly. The management of Customs seems to be misunderstanding the Free Trade Zone laws. That means that goods coming from any part of the world, bound for Tinapa must get to Tinapa first. There is no rationale whatever to stop those goods at Onne. By that singular action of the hierarchy of Customs, they are automatically telling us that we are no longer a free trade zone by requesting the operators to come to Onne and pay duty for containers. It is unheard of. When you begin to put that vis-à-vis the need for direct foreign investment, the whole world is watching because there are free trade zones all over the world and a lot of investors are interested to come and invest in Nigeria but with this kind of unhealthy climate, I don’t see how that can be achieved.”

    There is a stalemate. The Customs is not changing its stand. The operators are unwilling to pay. And no one seems to be mediating, leaving Tinapa bleeding and gasping for breath. Observers say it must be rescued before things get out of hand.

  • AFRIFF 2013 goes to TINAPA

    ORGANISERS of African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have announced preparations for the third edition of the film festival holding between the 10th and 17th of November 2013, at the popular TINAPA resort in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.

    Founder and Project Director, Chioma Ude, noted that the synergy created by experiencing the festival in Calabar will be something to cherish for a lifetime. She said it will be the ultimate experience for all participants, home and abroad.

    The unveiling of this year’s edition which held at the Rhapsody Lounge, Victoria Island, Lagos, was attended by His Excellency, Senator Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross River State and his wife, Mrs Obioma Imoke. Also at the event was the Special Adviser to the President on Strategy and Documentation, Mr Oronto Douglas, and the cream of the Nigerian film industry, including several Nollywood guild heads and notable stars.

    Governor Imoke in his speech expressed pleasure at the union between his state and AFRIFF, saying, “The Africa International Film Festival is a natural inclusion in the colourful year-long calendar of world class activities held in Cross River State.” Attesting to this development, Mr Oronto Douglas said that the federal government would support the state government’s efforts at promoting this film festival and other film festivals, taking them to greater heights.

    Chioma Ude thanked the governor, government and people of Cross River State for believing in her vision and partnering with the festival to deliver this exceptional experience in their state. She explained that the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) was a platform that seeks to give expression to players in the African film industry by recognising and rewarding excellence in the sector.

    Conceived by Ms Ude, AFRIFF is a world class showcase that presents a complete immersion into the world of film making with participation from local and international actors, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, sound engineers, musicians, editors, light engineers, students, equipment manufacturers and businessmen. The objectives are to develop the film industry to a level where the products compete favourably with their contemporaries all over world; provide a growth opportunity for these film industry professionals to eventually export their products to the world; facilitate access to investors, equipment, technical and skill acquisition through festival, organised fora and several capacity development workshops; complement government’s efforts at revamping small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

  • CROSS RIVER STATE TO HOST AFRICA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

    CROSS RIVER STATE TO HOST AFRICA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

    AFRIFF 2013 GOES TO TINAPA

    Organisers of Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) have announced that the third edition of the event will hold from November 10th to 17th, 2013 at the popular TINAPA resort in Calabar, the Cross River state capital.

    Founder and Project Director, Chioma Ude noted that the synergy created by experiencing the festival in Calabar will be something to cherish for a lifetime. She said it will be the ultimate experience for all participants from home and abroad.

    The unveiling of this year’s edition which held at the Rhapsody Lounge, Victoria Island, Lagos, was attended by His Excellency, Senator Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross River State and his wife, Mrs Obioma Imoke. Also at the event was the Special Adviser to the President on Strategy and Documentation, Mr Oronto Douglas and the cream of the Nigerian Film Industry including several Nollywood guild heads and notable stars.

    Governor Imoke expressed pleasure at the union between his State and AFRIFF saying, “The Africa International Film Festival is a natural inclusion in the colorful yearlong calendar of world class activities held in Cross River State.” Attesting to this development, Mr Oronto Douglas said that the Federal Government would support the State Government efforts at promoting this film festival and other film festivals, and taking them to greater heights.

    Chioma Ude expressed gratitude to the government and people of Cross River State for believing in her vision and partnering with the festival to deliver an exceptional experience in their state. She explained that AFRIFF was a platform that seeks to give expression to players in the African film industry by recognizing and rewarding excellence in the sector.

    Conceived by Ude three years ago, AFRIFF presents a complete immersion into the world of film making with participation from local and international, actors, directors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, sound engineers, musicians, editors, light engineers, students, equipment manufacturers and businessmen. The objectives are to develop the film industry to a level where the products compete favorably with their contemporaries all over world; provide a growth opportunity for these film industry professionals to eventually export their products to the world; facilitate access to investors, equipment, technical and skill acquisition through Festival organized fora and several capacity development workshops; complement government’s efforts at revamping small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).