Jacaranda Suites, a recently opened hotel in Calabar with 14 rooms had become well liked by those of us who come into town and stay for long periods. It is small, cosy and clean and provides certain other comforts that you don’t find in other hotels in the town, never mind that the owners seem to think it alright to celebrate marijuana with posters that invite you to light up in the rooms. We were used to it we lived with it and their staff, a disciplined polite crew, not a common find in Nigeria.

Anyway, I had checked in to stay for my usual 5 week period, it was only my second stay since I discovered this hotel, a little off the beaten track but not too far from the air port. The first tome I stayed three weeks. I had settled me into the same room that was allocated to me for my first visit so the place had become like home, something you need when you work away from home and work the hours required to get the work done. It was the end of my second week, Friday evening, when I got handed the letter from the GM. I assumed my credit had run low and brought out the Interswitch card to top up when on opening the letter I found out was a notice to move out of the hotel by noon on Sunday. I was flummoxed! Even if I had done something wrong I though I had rights surely. The reason given in the letter was that the hotel was to be renovated. I knew that was a lie because they had only just completed a round of renovations around me and the hotel is less than a year old. So I dug to find out more.

It turned out that UNICEF is bringing in consultants to Calabar for about a month and since whoever is making the arrangements has a liking for the hotel, s/he simply paid ‘management’ to turn out the guests already in situ. And they did.

I have no idea what my rights are within this because after all the hotel is privately owned and we entered in no contract per se when I checked in. I did however indicate that I would be staying 5 weeks and was never told about other reservations that would make it impossible for me to do so.

So I am angry and in my anger, I got to wondering why UNICEF would choose this particular hotel, bound on three sides as it is with bushes and uncompleted houses overgrown with bushes. There are no burglar grills in the windows or doors and the fence is no barrier to the determined intruder. The hotel is built on one floor (a bungalow) and the only security it has to boast of are two mobile police men that come each evening and turn in with the rest of us for a good night’s sleep. Anyone familiar with UN security requirements for a hotel knows that the hotel does not meet standards set to ensure safety of their staff, Nigerian or International. If you work for the UN, in a region about which they have safety concerns, you simply are not allowed to stay in such a place unless there are no alternatives. In this case, there are so why did the person making arrangements for UNICEF decide to put a party of UN staff (no matter if they are consultants) some of whom are white, in a place where they would be sitting ducks for an attack? Is it plain negligence or just bloody mindedness? More ominously, is there something planned?

So you ask why I choose to stay there? The fact of my anonymity and inconsequence is enough security for me. However, when you work for an international organisation, and you choose to move in a pack, that simply is another story.

Robot  Villager

# 1 I understand why UNICEF would like the hotel that I had come to regard as home in Calabar but I f...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 19.08.2007 08:14

Exxcuzme  Villager

# 2 =Robot;200863>I understand why UNICEF would like the hotel that I had come to regard as home in Calabar but I f...Read the full article. Mutti, like that old Rock and Roll song says "I say yeah, yeah, yeah, money talk, money...." Even in America and other advanced countries hotels can kick you out to give room to someone with more cash. I heard where an entertainer was kicked out of one of the most expensive hotel for an Arab Sheik. Do a research and you will find out this is common.....not that I agree with it. Posted by Exxcuzme| 19.08.2007 16:03

Mutti  Villager

# 3 Yeah, I guess, but I still needed to vent!:D Posted by Mutti| 19.08.2007 16:57