The ruins of Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort

Ikogosi Ekiti, Ekiti State; Date: October 18, 2013. All roads led to Ekiti State following the resuscitation of the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort by the then governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi (who is back in the saddle today).

Before then, the top-notch resort centre had been neglected by past administrations.

The fate of Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort is a tragic story of an awesome and unique geographical blessing which is the only warm spring in the world where both warm and cold springs run side by side.

Except during the tenure of one or two past governors of the state, Ikogosi had not fared better at all in terms of development, enhancement, and infrastructural engagements.

However the administration of Fayemi, in his first term, focused its developmental microscope on Ikogosi and spiritedly transformed the hitherto parlous, stinking, abjectly wrecked tourism site into an Eldorado.

The hitherto abandoned tourism site was stoked to life by  the heavy  infrastructural engagement and intervention of Dr Fayemi, who ensured a rapid development and  uplift of the site within a spate of two years making to be rated as the best ecotourism resort  with the full complements of accommodation, event hosting conference tourism and  culinary  activation in the South West of Nigeria.

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Great was the modernisation and renovation that within three months of its inauguration, the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort attracted and lured into its bosom 93, 420  tourists  with its attendant effect on the economy of the state, Ikogosi town and its environs. Indeed, between 2013 and 2014, Ikogosi was the golden tourism destination in Nigeria.

The impressive records of Ikogosi from 2013 to October 2014 actually actuated  the stimulation  of the  phase 2 of the Ikogosi Warm Springs Tourism Development project  which would have included the construction of a helipad,  a cable car to link Ikogosi Warm Springs to  the adjacent  Arinta Water Fall,  Ipole Iloro, which would have also enjoyed a radical  uplift  to a befitting tourism site. But that was where the beauty stopped.

However, the spirit with which Fayemi approached the project became dampened during the immediate past administration in the state.

Thus the iconic tourism site which has contributed tremendously to the economy of the state and put the name of the state in the first  roll of tourism states started to slipped into maladministration, infrastructural breakdown, to the extent that the whole colony was  disconnected from electric supply from the national grid!

Tourists ceased coming, termites came in their thousands to attack  the woods, while creepers took over, buildings fell down, huts  disappeared, wooding walkway caved in  and  reptiles became landlords of once luxurious chalets and accommodation.

A tour of the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort last Thursday by Tribune Travel and Hospitality Magazine revealed the sordid  status of the once vibrant tourism site which lured and attracted thousands of visitors to the state.

Commenting on the situation of the site, Chief Ayo Ademilua, the Asao of Ikogosi said: “We have a lot to say. But we are not going to continue lamenting. We are only happy that God has brought back the initiator and the reformer of the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort, who we pray, will rejuvenate and resuscitate his project.”

“Dr Fayemi is a visionary and a  selfless leader. He thinks constantly of how to better the economy of the state and how to empower the citizenry, that is why he always embarks on projects which will stoke the economy and improve the lots of the people. We  members of the Ikogosi community are   not only sure of the fact that he will rise up to rejuvenate and resuscitate the resort, we are also ready to support this effort in any positive way conceivable,” Ademilua added.