Nigeria’s former President, Goodluck Jonathan, has berated his successors over the abandonment of key projects initiated while he was serving as Bayelsa State Governor.

Jonathan, who spoke on Wednesday at the inauguration of the Best Western Plus Hotel in Yenagoa, the state capital, cast aspersions on the successive administrations for failing to sustain his development blueprint.

The former Nigerian leader said he had begun several hotel projects to attract tourism and investment to the state before he became Vice President in 2007.

According to him, the projects were left unattended after he left office, describing the trend as a major source of waste in governance.

He said, “When a governor leaves office, the next governor doesn’t want to follow up, and most of the money spent goes to waste.

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“During the first AMAA event, most of the international guests stayed in Port Harcourt because Bayelsa had no suitable hotels.

“So we supported local hoteliers with loans of N10m to N15m to upgrade their facilities, but after I left office, nobody refunded the money, and the initiative died.”

He noted that his government had also awarded contracts for the construction of three major hotels, including the Tower Hotel and two three-star facilities, which were abandoned.

“If they had done these three hotels, by now visitors coming to Bayelsa State would have had comfortable places to stay, but somehow when I left, even people I mobilised, we didn’t see what they had done.

“That is the problem of government, when a governor leaves, the next governor doesn’t want to follow up; most of that money spent will go.”

Jonathan lauded the management of Best Western Plus for bringing a world-class hospitality brand to the state, adding that it fulfilled the vision he had for Bayelsa’s tourism industry.