Key Points

• NHA president Patrick Anyanwu warned hoteliers that sheltering criminals or internet fraud suspects will attract association sanctions.
• Unregistered hotels face penalties and possible shutdown as the association moves to sanitize the industry.
• The NHA also called on governments at all levels to provide grants and stronger support for the hospitality sector.

Nigeria’s main hotel industry body has put its members on notice: open your doors to criminals and face the consequences, including losing the right to operate.

Patrick Anyanwu, national president of the Nigeria Hotel Association, issued the warning Thursday while addressing journalists in Owerri, Imo State, at a meeting of national executives and state chairmen drawn from all six geopolitical zones.

“Any hotelier caught harbouring criminals or ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ boys will have themselves to blame,” Anyanwu said. “The association believes in a standard operating system that adheres to the dictates of the industry.”

Unregistered hotels also in the crosshairs

The warning covered two categories of risk: hoteliers sheltering fraud suspects or other criminals, and those operating outside the association’s registration framework.

Anyanwu said unregistered hotels would face escalating penalties, up to and including closure. “We will use security when the time comes to make this work. In the near future, hotels that refuse to register with the association will face penalties.

Such hotels may even risk being shut down as part of efforts to sanitise the industry,” he said. “We cannot continue to allow any hotel that is not registered to operate and damage the reputation of our association.”

The NHA president stressed that the sector’s size and economic weight make the crackdown necessary, not punitive. “The tourism and hospitality sector remains one of the most important drivers of economic growth in Nigeria.

The hotels and hospitality sector is one of the largest employers of labour in the country today. We create jobs and accommodate visitors from all over the world,” he said.

Industry asking government for support

The meeting was not only about enforcement. Anyanwu also used the platform to call on federal and state governments to back the sector with grants and stronger institutional collaboration.

He commended the Imo State Government for its existing support of tourism and hospitality businesses but said more was needed across the board.

He also pledged the association would push back against any harassment of its members by regulatory or security agencies. “The association will resist any form of intimidation of its members by agencies,” he said.

The NHA’s dual message, clean up your practices or face sanctions while also demanding government partnership, reflects the pressure the sector faces as authorities tighten their scrutiny of hospitality businesses, particularly around cybercrime networks that have increasingly used hotels as operational bases.