All over the world, tourism has been identified as a major source of revenue for the government and it has become an important sector that has an impact on the development of the country’s economy with its attendant benefit of income creation and generation of jobs.
For many countries, it is the most important source of welfare but in Nigeria, it has not been tapped into.
With the state of the country’s economy presently, tourism that could have served as a major revenue generator for government has been left in a morbid state and Nigerians now spend their hard earned money in other countries for what if well developed in their country, could increase the revenue of the government.
According to stakeholders in tourism, the present drive by the Oyo State Government to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to tackle economic recession would have been a thing of the past if tourism is tapped into as a source of revenue for the government.
Oyo State is a land that is filled with tourist attractions and fascinating views that endear tourists and it is a place where one can actually get the best of what one is looking for in tourism at an affordable rate but the government seems not too interested in this money making venture which experts say can generate billions.
Oyo State has a lot of tourist attractions that can compete favorably with many popular sites in the world. There is the newly renovated Agodi Gardens, IITA Forest Reserve, Bower Memorial Tower at Oke Are, University of Ibadan Zoological Garden, Old Oyo National Park, Onigambari Forest Reserve, the Suspended Lake at Ado Awaye, the Royal forest “Igbo- Oba” at Igboho, Old Oyo (Oyo-Ile) and Soun’s palace at Ogbomoso.
Other historical and tourist sites include Oke ‘Badan Shrine; Ose Meji Shrine, Ibadan; Sango Shrine, Ibadan; Iddo Cenotaph, Ibadan; Akolu, Adoro, Okele and Obaseku Hills, Eruwa; Ancient Palaces of the Alaafin, Oyo; Soro Hill, Oyo; Akesan Market, Oyo; Bara (Burial place of Alaafins), Oyo; Sango, Obatala, Ogiyan and Orisa-oko shrines, Akinmorin; Koso Grove, Iseyin among others.
In a chat with the Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, he pointed out that the present government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi is doing all that is necessary to tap into tourism as a means of generating more internal revenue for the state and that is why the government is promoting tourism in the state.
“The present government of Oyo State knows that culture and tourism sectors are key revenue earners and this is why the state under the leadership of Senator Abiola Ajimobi has seen it as a matter of necessity to develop some of the tourists’ sites in the state.
“During the first term of the administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the old and abandoned Agodi Garden was renovated to a world class tourist site. You can go there now are see how the place looks like and again, there is a project in the pipe line to upgrade some tourism sites in the state to world class like the Suspended Lake at Ado Awaye and many others and last year, we did food tourism with the Amala Festival and this year’s World Cultural Day was celebrated with fanfare,” he said.
Professor Adeolu Akande , a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, was also of the view that the tourists’ sites in Oyo State are enough to generate more that the needed revenue to move the state to greater height.
“The Suspended Lake of Ado Awaye is one of the resources Oyo State could exploit to improve its revenue base, create jobs for its youths, attract foreign investors and create wealth for the local communities.
“There are many tourists’ attractions with such great potentials. These include the ancestral home of Bishop Ajayi Crowther where the tree he was tied to on capture as a slave boy still stands in Osoogun, the healing and fertility fish pond in Saki, cool and warm water spring in Oluyole Local Government in Ibadan, Captain Bower’s Tower in Ibadan, burial ground of the first, second and third Alaafin of Oyo and that of the only female Alaafin in Oyo Ile, site of the Ark of Jerusalem in Agelu beside Ado Awaye which hosts an estimated one million religious tourists annually, Oke Irefin Palace in Ibadan, the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, the old Oyo National Park, the 300-year-old tortoise, ‘Baba Agba’, at the palace of Soun of Ogbomoso, the Aso Oke weaving stations in Iseyin, the different colourful masquerade festivals in the communities and monuments of great men who had etched their footprints in the sands of time like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Ladoke Akintola, Chief Adegoke Adelabu, Chief Bode Thomas and so on.
“Harnessing the potentials of these cultural, historical, archaeological and religious tourism sites requires a comprehensive planning of local festivals and enhancement of tourists’ sites. The influx of tourists will spur investors to establish hotels, restaurants and entertainment activities along the routes of tourists’ sites. The exposure of tourists to other economic potentials of the state will promote investment in other sectors and tourism will become a major driver of the development of Oyo State. Oyo State will not need to depend on federal allocation for her sustenance and development”, Akande added.
The Vice President of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) Western Zone, which covers Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Ondo and Edo States; Mr. Olatokunbo Dagunduro is of the opinion that tourism is dead in Oyo State because of the way and manner the government goes about it.
In his contribution, he said “To be candid with you, tourism is long dead in Oyo state. Everybody knows that tourism is a sector of the economy that cannot be joked with because it’s life. In a case study of Africa, countries like Gambia, Kenya and South Africa, about twenty five percent of the Internally Generated Revenue is from tourism, whether leisure, business or religious tourism and the truth of the matter is that we in Nigeria are not taking this seriously, at all.
“Osun State, which is a neighbor of Oyo State, is very much ahead in term of tourism because I was privileged to be with the state tourism council, from Esinmirin Waterfall alone, they are able to generate over N80million to the coffers of the state government.
“There was a court ruling that each state should become the custodian of their tourist sites because the states are closer to them and they will be able to develop the potentials. But since that time, things have gone from bad to worse; all the tourists’ sites are eye sores. So tourism as far as Oyo state is concerned; to me is not thriving,” Dagunduro said.
Speaking further, Dagunduro, the Vice President of NANTA said, “what can revive tourism in Oyo State is for the stakeholders like Travel Agencies, Stock Brokers, Hoteliers and the government to come together in a state tourism summit to look at the problems facing tourism, the challenges and the likely solution, but this has fallen on the deaf ear of the government.
“We know that the mainstream of the nation’s economy which is oil is at its lowest ebb in the world market, but with the potentials in tourism, there is no way a nation or state that taps into it will not generate needed revenue.
“The many tourist sites in Nigeria and even in Oyo state can generate more income for the government if fully developed. For instance, from record, the highest generator of tourists to United Arab Emirates in the last one year is Nigeria, the highest number of tourists from African countries to South Africa are Nigerians. With this statistics, we can see that it is not that Nigerians are not willing to go on vacation despite our economic depression but there are no places to go in the country and all this can be rectified if the government gives all our tourists’ sites some kind of face lift.
“During a recent meeting with the government, we were told that there is no money to do all the face-lifting but we told them that all over the world, the government goes into Public Private Partnerships and brings in foreign investors.
“For Oyo State to get it right on tourism in the state, firstly, the government must separate Tourism from the Ministry of Information and Culture, without that, I don’t think there will be a head way. Tourism is very broad; with a wide scope. It is self sufficient that it could generate unexpected income for the government, secondly the roads to the tourists’ sites in the state are bad and the tourists’ sites are eye sores, like the road to the Suspended Lake at Ado Awaye and this must be looked into. Finally, there is no research and reprisal in the sense, there is no records, no statistics of inflow into our tourists’ sites to plan on ways to develop them.”
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
