Nigeria’s Niger Delta is changing fast.
At the centre of that change is one landmark project: the five-star Radisson Hotel Yenagoa.
And it opens in December 2026.
This is not a rumour.
It is not a proposal, but a joint venture between the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and South Africa’s Edison Corporation, incorporating Radisson Hotels Group.
Construction is active, deadlines are locked, and the international agreements are signed. Bayelsa State is building something the Niger Delta has never had before.
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NCDMB Executive Secretary Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe is not watching this project from a distance. He is tracking progress personally, every day, every week.
At a recent project management workshop held at the Nigerian Content Tower in Swali, Yenagoa, Engr. Ogbe made his position clear.
The Radisson Hotel Yenagoa is critical to the NCDMB, critical to Yenagoa, and critical to Bayelsa State and Nigeria as a whole.
“This project is critical to the Board, critical to Yenagoa, and to Bayelsa State and Nigeria. With this hotel becoming functional at the end of the year, I believe there will be tourism in Bayelsa State; and that’s one of my dreams.. When I took up this job [as Executive Secretary in December 2024], I said I must make this hotel work.”
Coordination
Securing the Radisson brand for Yenagoa was not a quick win.
Discussions, reviews, and compliance requirements lasted over two years, with approval secured from all key stakeholders including the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN.
The result was a formal international management agreement.
The NCDMB signed the deal with Radisson Hospitality Belgium and Edison Hotel and Property Development Company for a 204-room hotel and conference centre, built adjacent to the Nigerian Content Tower in Swali, Yenagoa.
Two years of negotiations. One signed agreement. One December 2026 deadline.
In his own remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Edison Corporation, Mr. Vivian Reddy, said the team from Edison Hotel Group was very excited to have come into a contractual arrangement with the NCDMB.
“Radisson Hotel and Conference Centre, Yenagoa, will put this place on the world map. What is so important with the group Radisson International is that, if anyone around the world looks for Radisson Yenagoa, they will see this place pop up, and it’s going to help to uplift the area in terms of visitors and tourism.”
The Broader Signal
Here is where the Radisson Hotel Yenagoa changes everything.
Anyone searching for accommodation anywhere in the world will now find the Yenagoa property appearing in Radisson’s global booking systems directly uplifting Bayelsa State in terms of international visitors and tourism revenue.
Corporate travel managers in London, Dubai, and Singapore will see Yenagoa on their screens. International delegates will book rooms.
Bayelsa State enters a global conversation it was previously excluded from entirely.
Reddy says this venture is a big win for tourism in the Niger Delta region.
“Our role is to make sure we deliver a world-class quality hotel; from start to finish, we will open the hotel; we will furnish it. Getting Radisson in here wasn’t easy: It took months and months – in fact over one and a half years – of discussions and thousands of pages of documentation.”
The Radisson Hotel Yenagoa is more than a hotel.
It is proof that Nigeria’s secondary cities are ready for world-class investment.
The Niger Delta has long been defined by oil and gas.
That story is changing.
When the five-star Radisson Hotel and Conference Centre opens in December 2026, Bayelsa State will have delivered one of the most significant hospitality developments in Niger Delta history.
