The Kwara State government has, for the first time, publicly disclosed that it spent approximately ₦27billion to renovate, rehabilitate and equip the controversial Kwara Hotel, raising fresh questions over how the cost of the project rose by about ₦9.2 billion above the originally announced contract sum.
The disclosure was made by Abdulateef Ibrahim Akolu, Senior Special Assistant to the Kwara State government, during an appearance on an Ilorin-based radio station, Diamond FM.
Akolu said the total amount spent on the project was below ₦30 billion, putting the expenditure at approximately ₦27 billion when the renovation and equipment purchased for the hotel were taken into account.
“The money spent on the hotel is less than ₦30billion, and in total, the amount is around ₦27billion for the renovation and all the equipment bought inside it,” Akolu said.
Before the latest disclosure, the Kwara State government had announced a contract sum of approximately ₦17.8 billion for the rehabilitation of Kwara Hotel.
The newly disclosed figure of about ₦27 billion therefore represents an increase of roughly ₦9.2 billion over the originally announced contract sum.
The government has, however, not publicly provided a detailed breakdown explaining how the project cost moved from ₦17.8 billion to approximately ₦27 billion.
It remains unclear whether the additional expenditure arose from contract variations, additional construction works, inflationary adjustments, procurement of new facilities, or other expenses incurred during the rehabilitation of the hotel.
The government has also yet to publicly clarify when the additional expenditure was approved, who authorised the variations, the specific items covered by the additional spending, or whether the equipment now cited by Akolu was included in the original ₦17.8 billion contract or procured separately.
The latest disclosure also comes after different figures had circulated publicly concerning the eventual cost of the project.
Akolu, however, dismissed the higher figures, insisting that the total amount spent by the government was below ₦30 billion.
“The money spent on the hotel is less than ₦30 billion, and in total, the amount is around ₦27 billion for the renovation and all the equipment bought inside it,” he said.
Defending the expenditure, Akolu argued that the scale of the hotel and the facilities installed as part of the rehabilitation should be taken into consideration when assessing the amount spent by the government.
According to him, the renovated facility has approximately 178 rooms and about 10 lifts, with each lift costing between ₦600 million and ₦1 billion.
Akolu used the cost of the lifts and other facilities to argue that the amount spent on the project should not be viewed solely from the perspective of the building’s renovation.
He also suggested that criticism of the project would have continued regardless of the amount eventually disclosed by the government.
“There is no amount of money that we can call it that it won’t cause issues. Even if we call it ₦2 billion that was spent there, we will see some people that will say this hotel is worth it,” he said.
The latest disclosure has effectively shifted the controversy surrounding Kwara Hotel from speculation about its final cost to questions over the circumstances that led to the additional expenditure.
With the government now putting the total expenditure at approximately ₦27 billion, there is a difference of about ₦9.2 billion between the figure initially announced for the rehabilitation contract and the amount now said to have been spent on renovation and equipment.
The government is yet to explain in detail how the additional ₦9.2 billion was incurred.
It is also unclear whether the ₦17.8 billion initially announced represented only the construction and rehabilitation component of the project, while the additional amount covered equipment, furniture, fittings and other facilities.
Questions also remain over whether the additional works and procurements were covered by formally approved variations to the original contract and whether such variations were subjected to the required procurement and financial procedures.
The absence of a publicly available detailed breakdown has continued to fuel concerns among critics who have questioned the amount committed to the project at a time when the state faces competing demands for public infrastructure and social services.
For months, the controversy surrounding Kwara Hotel had largely revolved around conflicting claims over the actual amount spent on the project.
The government had previously announced the rehabilitation contract at about ₦17.8 billion, while figures circulating publicly later suggested that the final expenditure could have risen significantly beyond that amount.
SaharaReporters previously reported that the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, in the approved 2025 budget for the state plans to spend a sum of ₦10billion for the rehabilitation of Kwara Hotel.
This comes despite ₦13 billion spent on the same project in 2024.
Between October and December 2024 alone, the state spent ₦6.4 billion on the hotel’s rehabilitation.
With ₦13 billion spent in 2024 and ₦10 billion approved for 2025, a total of ₦23 billion will be allocated to the project over two years—an increase from the widely reported ₦17.8billion initially approved for the contract.
Despite spending ₦13billion on the hotel in 2024, the state allocated ₦0 for the construction or provision of public schools, ₦6.5billion for the construction of hospitals and health centres, and only ₦491million for the rehabilitation of water facilities.
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