 Nigerian government officials visiting Geneva liked the hotel and invited Hilton and Gaon to establish a similar hotel in the newly created capital city of Abuja with construction expedited to host meeting of Heads of States of ECOWAS.Gaon through his firms Noga Commodities Overseas and Afro Continental was involved in rice, edible oils cement trade in Nigeria during the country's oil boom years in the 1970s.In 1979, he was importing 120,000 tonnes of rice to Nigeria.