A Lagos based social club; Hazie Masters International is on the threshold of becoming a major player in Nigeria’s hospitality industry as its magnificent hotel project would soon be completed.
The 62 bed-room multi-story building which is located on Ago Palace Way in Okota area of Lagos, is expected to be completed by March or April, 2025.
Speaking with journalists on the sideline of the Club’s end of year party on Saturday, Chairman of Hazie Masters International Club, High Chief Richard Ifeanyi Agbapuru said the Club has achieved much this year particularly with respect to its investment objectives.
According to him, the Club which is currently worth about N7billion plans to embark on another hotel project in the Victoria Island area of Lagos once the current one is completed and becomes functional even as he promised that the project would generate employment for some Nigerians of graduate and non-graduate categories.
Explaining further, Agbapuru who is the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of multi-billion naira RichyGold Group of Companies said Hazie Club which was principally founded, among other things, to help the less privileged ones in the society, has done much in its charity works by positively affecting the lives of some motherless babies’ and other less privileged Nigerians.
He added that in line with its primary objectives, Hazie Masters would soon float a scholarship scheme for indigent students in schools across states of the federation, as it strongly believes in uplifting the less privileged in the society.
Confirming in strong terms that Hazie Masters International stands out as the most enviable and prestigious club in the comity of social clubs founded by people of Igbo extraction in contemporary time, the Chairman who is highly respected and appreciated by members said Hazie’s uniqueness is premised on ability of members to act intelligently. “Hazie is the only social club that acts intelligently by making sure that what we do, is in accordance with the provisions of the Club’s constitution.”
Explaining this further, High Chief Agbapuru noted that many other social clubs were never mindful of long lasting investment as they often resorted to over spending and leaving their clubs in financial deficit. By way of clarification, he said some clubs may generate the sum of N2billion in a particular year and end up spending about N3billion thereby incurring a deficit of N1billion. “This is contrary to the way we operate at Hazie Masters. In our own case, if we generate like N2billion in a year, we can spend N1.5billion and plough back the balance of half a billion into investment to generate more income. This is why we do not lack cash most times,” he emphasised.
The end of year party which was held at the Club’s newly completed event centre located adjacent to the hotel building complex which is still under construction, was well attended by members and their spouses. It was a night of high stake socialization and merriment by members who from all appearances are successful industrialists and businessmen in their own rights.
There was so much to eat and drink just as a live band that came all the way from Asaba in Delta State was on stand to thrill the club members and their guests in the all night party.
One of the highlights of the occasion was show of love by the club members to their wives whom they said have always upheld the home front at all times when their husbands were out chasing money. At the last count, not less than N42million cash was raised as take-away for the members’ wives. According to Agbapuru, “this is a way of appreciating our wives and to make them show us more love.”
Explaining what may be the little challenge of the Club’s leadership under his watch, the Hazie Masters chairman said from his perspective as the current leader of the Club, “leading a club of men who are financially rich in their own right, is not a child’s play because rich men are the most difficult people to lead. Most cases, one would observe some care-free attitude and to checkmate such attitude is not easy. Sometimes, we disagree so much among ourselves but the good thing is that at the end of the disagreement, we would come to agree and move forward.
“We are largely doing our best in terms of leadership and hopefully we shall get to the level where everyone understands what we are doing. We are happy with our members.”
Elated High Chief Agbapuru was full of praises for the six members of the club whom he said sponsored this year’s end of year party by spending huge sum of money to ensure that every arrangement was top notch. The members were joyfully appreciated along with their spouses and later went home with high quality gift items from the club’s leadership.
