The popular Marina Resort, a one-stop tourism hub, which includes a slave history museum has been shut by protesting youths in Calabar over alleged cases of mismanagement.
The youths of Bayside in Calabar South LGA accused the Managing Director, Tourism Bureau, Utsu John of allegedly diverting revenues of the resort.
One of the youth leaders of the Bayside host community, Effiom Ndem, said the management has allowed the facilities to deteriorate, so that largely the resort has become a ghost of its former self.
“The current sorry state of the resort is as a result of poor management. Nothing is working again at the resort. Management collects all the monies generated from this resort from the gate fees to the monies paid by vendors.”
Reacting, Mr Utsu said the allegations were unfounded. “The records of transactions are accessible. It is not also true that the resort is no longer operational.”
The state Commissioner for tourism and culture, Eric Anderson, also denied the allegations noting that he only plays a supervisory role at the resort and that the Tourism Bureau head does not report to his ministry.
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