‘Why we are bringing an Adventure Waterpark to Ibadan’

A Private Public Partnership (PPP) between the Oyo State government, Geo Meridien International Limited and Consortium Partners to construct a waterfront adventure park along the Eleyele river in Ibadan was announced during a site inspection visit/assessment of the property, last week.  ROTIMI IGE, who was at the event, presents a report on the proposed investment and its particular offerings to the public, when completed.

Last Monday, Oyo State government officials, led by the Commissioner for Information, Wasiu Olatubosun and top representatives of Geo Meridien International Limited and Consortium Partners visited the Eleyele River, to inspect the site which has been picked for the establishment of an adventure water park. The Private Public Partnership (PPP), which would see the project delivered within 36 months, has been hailed by all parties involved as a step in the right direction to boost the touristic capabilities and also Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state in general.

The Waterfront Adventure Park (the proposed name for the project) is primed to be a world-class fusion of eco and adventure tourism destination in the heart of the city of Ibadan. The park will be the first and biggest water adventure and eco-park in Nigeria. It is to be the ultimate destination for international tourists, a location for events, school trips, individuals, families, friends, churches, and corporate team building. It will to be a place where people come to relax, rejuvenate, and have funfilled day out and also lodge in the hotels, and other various unique accommodation provided.

According to the project coordinators from Geo Meridien International, led by Mrs Toyin Odugbesan, the park will have exclusive features like a boat cruise, jungle arena, an artificial beach, canopy walkway, cable cars, animal planet areas, outdoor cinema, terrace bar and lounge, camping/bonfire area, forest hotels, river view lodges, wooden chalets, a floating restaurant, an eco village and many other offerings.

Speaking during the site assessment visit, she said, “Waterfront Adventure Park will be a pride to Nigeria when it is completed. Various companies formed the consortium to undertake the project as it is bigger than just only one company. We have investors from various industries in hospitality, transportation, real estate, adventure tourism, entertainment, culture, clean energy and so on, all coming together on this investment.

“All the investors are experienced in projects of this magnitude. This is an opportunity for us to construct a world standard tourism destination in Nigeria that can encourage more inbound tourism to our country. On the consortium, our goal is to create something iconic that will stand the test of time. That is why we are deploying seasoned technical partners from environmental architects to water engineers, urban planners, landscape architects, building engineers, tourism professionals, surveyors, topographers, forest scientists even to heritage experts on this project.

Speaking during the site assessment visit, the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun said, “The Director General of Investments, Honourable Segun Ogunwuyi, is directly in charge of the project and this is re-emphasising the fact that the administration of Engineer Seyi Makinde is committed to improving the tourism sector, especially as regards inbound tourism, hence we are keen on this project as this will be the biggest eco tourism destination in Nigeria when completed.”

“Eleyele lake has a natural environment that possesses great potential of being transformed into a world class waterfront resort and recreation center to boost IGR of the state. We all know that this state is known for many firsts, this will also be another one that will again, put the state in positive light once and will make Oyo State the tourism hub of the nation. We are excited about this and that’s why we all came out here for an intensive site inspection and assessment before kick starting it as this is an inter-ministerial project. A technical committee set up by the government will oversee the project so that we can deliver a masterpiece”

Speaking, the Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Rt. Honourable Olatunji Kehinde Ayoola said: “I assure you that our ministry will not waste time as regards our cooperation to the success of the project. The project itself is in sync with what we are thinking about and it will involve a lot of ministries and agencies. You see, Eleyele River has a capacity of daily production of up to 28 million cubic liters of water, the construction of the dam started in 1942 and was completed in 1947. It is quite big. The state government, under the Ibadan urban flood management programe, which is a World Bank-assisted programme, has done a lot of rehabilitation in de-silting and dredging the water body. But over the years, we’ve had various levels of encroachments on the facility. The facility itself has been bastardised as we’ve had various cases of illegal tree felling, etc. Even, some hoodlums and prayer sites have taken over some parts. If you go there now, some new barriers are already mounted there as barricades by the government. On this project, the Department of Forestry will also be involved, as they are in charge of the Eleyele forest project established years ago to help the capacity of the dam in flood resilience. You know, when you plant trees, the roots help to bind the soil together from getting washed off.”

Also speaking during the site assessment visit, Chairman Oyo State Tourism Board, Surveyor Adebowale Emmanuel Adejumobi, said “We absolutely cannot wait for the completion of this laudable project as it will create a conducive environment for business around the entire Eleyele area to thrive as well promote economic activities of the state as Oyo State will have increasingly large influx of tourists from everywhere in the world to visit the Waterfront Adventure Park”

His deputy, Alhaji Abass Oloko added: “This indeed is a worthy project and it further emphasises the government’s move to maximize the potential of the tourism sector in the state. I am particularly excited about this project as we will also be able to turn the Oke Ibadan shrine at Awotan too into a tourism destination”

The Head of Projects, Oyo State Investments and Public-Private Partnership agency, Mr Kunle Olusina, who represented the Director General of the agency, Honourable Segun Ogunwuyi at the site assessment visit, stated that the state government intends to turn the tourism potential in the state around through public-private partnership policies.

The ICT and Digital Tourism consultant for the project, Mr Deji Sangodoyin, stressed that the project would disrupt tourism appreciation in Nigeria positively.

He said, “This project will, of course, disrupt tourism appreciation in this part of the world. In recent research the visitor attraction (VA) sector has fallen behind other touristic industries as far as technology adoption is concerned, with the ongoing growing convergence of information and communications technologies (ICT) in the tourism industry. The Waterfront Adventure Park project aims to examine the role of ICT by analyzing the tendency of VA managers to employ ICT, and its factors. Ultimately, it aims to establish an ICT capacity assessment framework, to explore ICT’s potential to convey organisational and strategic advantage in Oyo State.

“The adventure park will contain a wide variety of elements like rope climbing exercises, obstacle courses, bouldering, tree climbing, target oriented activities, and zip lines. These are intended for recreation and embody the spirit and activities. Outdoor camp and bonfire will be set up for various activities and periodic events.

“This recreational-oriented adventure park is to be designed for a larger volume of visitors. The park will not follow a specific educational concept, but will see the individual, physical and mental challenge as a predominantly recreational activity.  The Adventure park is to be for beginners or a seasoned, intrepid adventurer, groups, friends and family to encounter the ultimate outdoor adventure experience.

“An open-air museum is going to be designed to bring history to life, reflect the heroes that gave us the freedom and bring their values and lifestyles into reality.  It is to be a museum that exhibits collections of their statues and artifacts out-of-doors.”

Mrs Odugbesan also stressed the importance of the siting of eco-villages, saying: “Eco-villages can be utilised by the community as a template of how to hold and enlarge social common capital with the following attributes; harmonising with the natural environment, creating a sustainable social infrastructure with minimal use of energy and resources and maintaining a community with a governance system that focuses on social and cultural contexts. This will bring important opportunities to society at large when smaller communities look toward a more sustainable earth in the future, which is what we love to not just preach, but implement by keying into the Global Eco villages Network (GEN). We will also use the eco-village initiative for achieving the social development goals.”