Daura is an ancient city with rich cultural and historical heritage. The town is famously known as the pillar of the Hausa lineage and it borders neighbouring Niger Republic.
The rich history of the Kusugu well myth can be seen all over the places in Daura. The legendary Kusugu well, inside which the snake called Sarki was slain, serves as a major tourist attraction in Daura.
The town serves as a transit town for many business merchants that mostly ply the busy Kwangwalan border for business. Recently, mainly due to the emergence of the son of the land as Nigeria’s president, the influx of people to the town, from all parts of the country, increased tremendously.
However, the task of getting comfortable accommodations for tourists and business persons became herculean as there are few hotels to cater for the growing numbers of visitors into the town.
The ought-to-be prestigious Daura Motel, owned by the state government, which should have served as a comfortable place to host guests to the town, is in deplorable condition.
Yet, the Daura Motel, deplorable as it is, remains the most habitable place that caters for guests to the ancient town. Daura Motel, as it now called, started as a Catering Guest House with 12 rooms that served the then government officials. At present, there are 52 rooms with prices ranging from N4, 000 to N12, 000 per night.
With the creation of Katsina State out of the old Kaduna State in 1987, the need for more accommodation and Government Guest Houses became imperative. Consequently, previous governments established seven more structures that are presently under the state’s hotels management board.
A visit to Daura Motel will bring one face-to-face with an outstretched facility that is in dire need for repairs to meet the standard of 21st Century motel. Lamentably, grasses now have outgrown the compound, roads are in bad state in the premises, and the environment is unkempt and characterised by dilapidated structures.
There is only a borehole in the motel, and it is not functioning, making access to water supply difficult. As for power supply, any visitor to the motel who passes the night can only expect power for three hours – f rom 8pm to 11pm, but, occasionally, power is restored before the early morning bright hour.
Reptiles and mosquitoes, of course, dominate the area to the chagrin of visitors.
Some staffers of the motel who spoke on condition of anonymity said that most customers must make do with what is available in terms of services.
They said that they have to refill water containers and reservoirs for customers every morning.
One of the staffers said: “At 11 pm, when the light goes off, our nightmares begin as customers demand for power which we can’t supply. They would rather plead with such customers to pray so that the power company can restore power.
It is observed that government officials and others, who travel with President Buhari to Daura, used to stay in the motel, their friends’ houses in the city, or go to lodge in better accommodations in nearby cities of Katsina or Kano.
However, disturbed by the poor conditions of the motel and other public accommodation facilities in the town, the state government is now poised to tackle the situation.
A letter written to the Assembly by Governor Aminu Masari buttresses government’s plans to use N245 milllion to repair the motel.
Masari, in the letter, stressed the need to improve the condition of the motel and increase the state’s internally generated revenue. He urged the lawmakers to expedite action to address the situation.
The governor’s action was welcomed by many, especially those who use the facility. People say that the action is long overdue and desirable to show care to visitors on Buhari’s entourage and to Daura town