Do you know the joy of discovering a huge sum of money in the pocket of an outfit few minutes before doing you do the laundry? That was how I felt when I visited the only suspended lake in Africa.
Visiting Iyake Lake, at Ado-Awaye was quite a fascinating experience, from the Rocky Mountains and ancient monuments to the Lake itself – a body of water that neither flows nor get dried. History says no one can ascertain the depth of lake or the age of the lake. Isn’t that scintillating? While I was carried away by the serene ambience of the environment, I was quite saddened by the deserted state of the environment as well as the paucity of economic activities. For an historical and culturally symbolic place like Iyake Lake, the dearth of life was a pulsating paradox.
Nigeria has been through a lot of economic topsy-turvy with inflation knocking on the door vigorously and recession being a transient unwanted guest twice in the last three years. Gradually evolving from an agrarian cum oil driven economy into an enterprise-SME driven economy, there are a lot of sectors still under-utilised and tourism is one of them.
Adding a meagre 5 percent to the nation’s GDP in 2018 according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, Tourism has been one of the underperforming sectors in Nigeria especially when compared with countries like Seychelles, Cape Verde and Mauritius where tourism contributes 20 percent, 17 percent and 12 percent respectively despite having notable places like Ikogosi Springs, a waterbody that allows you to explore the unique scenery of warm and cold spring flowing side by side to form a confluence, each maintaining its thermal properties – it’s first kind in whole world, Iyake Lake, one of the two suspended lake in the whole world, Erin-Ijesha waterfalls, Olumo rock and other notable places. Where did we get it wrong?
Dubai has continuously ranked in the top ten most visited places to visit in the world, with 15.9 million people visiting in 2018 and 8.6 million influx of tourists recorded between January and June. From the functioning infrastructure to the relaxation centres, Dubai seamlessly presents itself as a destination to relax, have fun and do business with pleasure. Isn’t that what we all want? Oh, I forgot to add that the tallest building in the world – Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Beyond being a centre of attraction, they have been able to brand and build strategic relationship with travel agencies, notable organisations and companies, creating a mutually beneficial relationship that continuously puts the city on the world map and the results are obvious, or don’t you want to go to Dubai too?
During the 61st United Nations World Tourism Organisation Commission for Africa (UNWTO-CAF) conference last year, the Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive officer of The NBS, Dr Yemi Kale reiterated the fact that Tourism activities has immense potentials thanks to its lush landscapes, intriguing indigenous culture and exciting experiences however turning this potentials to revenue is the joint duty of every stakeholder.
On Saturday, at the foot of the mountain, I imagined private investors and real estate companies building about 50 to 100 chalets at Ado-awaye, major journalist and pressmen writing about the lake, a major arts and literary festival being held at the lake, popular celebrities taking a visit to the lake and a major movie shot around the lake. Wouldn’t that shine a torch on the gloomy state of the community?
The ripple effect of tourism cannot be overemphasised, from the provision of employment opportunities for the denizens of the designated tourist attractions to the improvement of infrastructural facilities and the spread of civilisation to the community’ host. Isn’t investing tourism then a worthy venture?
While investments from private individuals, the government agencies and other organisations would come handy, deliberate efforts must be made to put Nigerian tourist attractions on the global map. Creating a site that solely talks about Nigerian tourist centres, the indelible experiences as well as opportunities that abound would be a great step. Sponsored photography contests, liaison with travelling agencies are options that might also be considered.
Nigeria’s economy is in dire need of revenue, with huge debt servicing and continuous recurrent expenditure and there is need to optimise every resource available. While there are obvious challenges like insecurity, instability of the local currency and under uncontrollable factors, tourism is a fallow land waiting to be explored.
EMMANUEL FAITH
Emmanuel Faith is a Lagos based writer and human resource enthusiast; He is also the author of “Chronicles of an intern”. He can be found on LinkedIn with the handle- Emmanuel Faith.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
