In it determination to boost the tourism potentialities in Oyo State and to rank top among comity of nations, the Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun has illiterated the state’s resolve to work closely with Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) to promote the state’s public and private sector partnership bid.
Dr Wasiu disclosed during a visit by the FTAN PRO and Oyo State Tourism Coordinator, Wale Olapade to the state’s secretariat to president the 20 finalist plaque for the Nigeria Seven Wonder to the Governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde.
Receiving the plaque on behalf of the governor the commissioner of
Dr Olatunbosun acknowledged the support and proactiveness of the FTAN PRO at promoting tourism and culture in the state and promised to work closely with FTAN at strategically looking on how to actualise the state’s tourism agenda viz-a-viz giving Public and Private Sector Participation a level-playing ground in making Oyo State a tourism hub.
“For the cultural centre and Ado Awaye, the two people that signified interest have not really come up with genuine ways to solely raise money; they both wanted to borrow money from bank but want the government to stand as guarantee which is not possible.”
“We even went to the extent to tell them that the government will write a cover letter for them to show that they are undertaking a project with the state but they insisted we should stand as a guarantee for them. At that stage, we knew something is not right, because if we are running away from loan and we decided to bring in private investors and they still want us guarranty them from what we are running from there is nothing we can do.
“ Notwithstanding, we are not resting on our oars in doing our promotion bid and we are also not waiting for investor before we do our promotion. We will continue to showcase the best of Oyo State pending when the right investors key into public and private partnership agenda of the state.
“I was at Iyake Festival some few weeks age and it was amazing seeing the interest in promoting culture. We thank God that we have an Oba (King) that is so passionate about the ….and it will interest you that Iyake has been in existence before I came onboard but when we came on, I started the promotion of the festival and I have been to Iyake more than five times.”
The first time I went there, I made sure we promoted it and gave it a livestream on the new media and from that moment, we started receiving calls from all over the world; ask if it is true. And ditto when we went Idere, since then, Idere had changed and the traffic has increased tremendously. So it was when we did that, that other communities started inviting us.”
“After that visit, we received letter from the okere of Saki and then he sent a power delegation to inform us that in the 187 tourists sites listed in Oyo State, none of the unique sites of Saki were among them. Then I requested he sent an invite to us.
“We actually received the letter last week and we are planning to pay them a visit. Thank God you are here and we assure you, we are going to involve you in the visit when ever we are going there.”
The Commissioner directed the Director of Tourism in the ministry of Information, culture and tourism to get the FTAN coordinator for Tourism and his entourage involved in the tourism visit to Saki for the onsite assessment of the unique sites in question.
Speaking earlier during the visit, the FTAN PRO, Mr Wale Olapade commended Governor Makinde for his practical bid at not only putting structures that Will attract investors but also having lieutenants; one of which is Dr Olatunbosun who is not leaving any stone unturned to deliberately give tourism a voice in the state.
“On two different occasions, the commission of Tourism have practically shown uncommon commitment through his participation at tourism events and one of this memorable moments was the climbing of Idere and also travelling to some remote areas to have an on site assessment of tourism attractions.”
The Federation of Tourism Association Nigeria has taken close look at the recent tourism activities of the Governor Seye Makinde led Administration and without mincing words, we see a listening governor who has taken his time to build a workable strategy that is making a bold statement for practical tourism promotion.
We are here to familiarize ourselves with you and to show our support in joining force with the Oyo State government in making tourism one of the mainstay of the economy.
Tourism play a big role social, cultural and infrastructural development a state because it comes with innovation that is people-driven and also form the bases for promoting unity in diversity through other tourism allied business activities.
“And going by the sociocultural structure and historical antecentdent of Oyo state coupled with the natural potentialities; the state is a tourism gold mine to explore, develop and market to the world since we have an innovative governor with the right political goodwill to make it happen.
“One landmark achievement that is worth celebrating is the seven wonder of Nigeria list where the state was able to scale the voting stage and still lucky to have some of its unique sites listed.
“The first was the nomination of sites for the top 100 natural wonders in Nigeria and Oyo State made the list with four sites listed and when the voting for the top 20 was done, the state proudly had two sites listed; the breathtaking, Ado Awaye Suppended Lake and the unique Idere Hills.
“These two sites have attractions that are beyond human comprehension and a play that can bring the world to Nigeria and the good thing about this listing is that it is happening at the time of the Governor Makinde and we have to promote it with new narrative that will project the state beyond western stereotype.
“Why will our own natural wonder; Ado Awaye suspended Lake which was as old as the nature of earth be christened second to an artificial or better put manmade suspended lake in Colorado as first? Is that thinking right or normal? Who has the power or right to date or rate a heritage or unique site like Ado Awaye Suspended Lake if not the custodian and people whose the site domicile in their origin?
“It is high time we started telling our own stories ourselves because we are part of the experiences that made us who we are and we are in the best position to control the narrative. No one can tell out story better than us.”
Among those that paid the courtesy visit to the Oyo State government include the president of ANJET, Mr Omololu Olumuyiwa, NANTA Vice President, South West, Mr Afolabi Hezekiah, President of Women in Business Tourism, Oyo State Chapter, Nike Mustapha, Taiwo and Kehinde Oguntoye of Twin World Creations and The FTAN National PRO and Tourism Coordinator for Oyo State, Ambassaor Wale Olapade.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…
[ICYMI] Lekki Shootings: Why We Lied About Our Presence — General Taiwo
The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the killings at Lekki Toll Gate, on Saturday resumed viewing of the 24hrs footage of the October 20, 2020 shooting of #EndSARS protesters by personnel of the Nigerian Army…
ICYMI: How We Carried Out The 1993 Nigerian Airways Hijack —Ogunderu
On Monday, October 25, 1993, in the heat of June 12 annulment agitations, four Nigerian youngsters, Richard Ajibola Ogunderu, Kabir Adenuga, Benneth Oluwadaisi and Kenny Razak-Lawal, did the unthinkable! They hijacked an Abuja-bound aircraft, the Nigerian Airways airbus A310, and diverted it to Niger Republic. How did they so it? Excerpts…
Sahabi Danladi Mahuta, a community mobiliser and APC chieftain. Mahuta spoke to select journalists at the sidelines of an Islamic conference in Abuja recently. Excerpts…
As anticipation builds for the 4th edition of the Afrobeats Music Festival (AMF) scheduled to…
The State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps in Ondo, Mrs Kuburat Omowumi Bakare,…
Tuesday’s proceedings was marked by arguments over the proper processes to...
The Senate has expressed concern over the sudden resurgence of Boko Haram in the North-East,…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday called for greater collaboration between the Federal Government and…
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kwara State chapter, says it is targeting 60 per cent…
This website uses cookies.