Blackout: Hoteliers, Traders Groan in Gombe
By Najib Sani, Gombe
The prolonged power outage in the north has brought the hospitality industry in Gombe State to its knees, with hoteliers and local businesses counting their losses.
The Chairman, Gombe Lodgings and Hoteliers Association, Engineer Tarfa Dzarma, painted a grim picture of the sector’s struggles in an interview with our correspondent.
He noted that there are about 150 hotels in the state adding that they have recorded over 50 percent losses due to the outage.
“We are facing increased costs for generating alternative power and sourcing water, with the national grid down,” Dzarma said.
He complained that the power outage has affected water supply concomitantly and made prices of water exorbitant, revealing that a tanker that sells at N20,000 now costs N32,000.
The hoteliers’ chairman urged authorities to address the power outage promptly, as the situation is getting worse.
