BY Desmond Okon
The government of Ekiti says it is developing a tourism master plan to improve the lot of the sector and boost the overall economy of the state.
Speaking with journalists in Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort on Friday, Wale Ojolanre, the director-general of the state’s bureau of tourism development, assured that Ekiti is safe for tourists.
Dismissing concerns bordering on insecurity in the state, he said the reported attacks happened on the fringes of Ekiti, insisting that tourism zones are safe.
Although unwilling to provide full details, Ojolanre said there have been deliberate efforts by the state government to secure tourists.
“I don’t want to expose security, [but] we’re the only state that has a homeland security as a parastatal under my agency. We know what is going on. When the road is not safe, tourism is in danger,” he added.
Buttressing his views, Sharafa Lanre Balogun, general manager at Glocient Hospitality, assured visitors “that security is top-notch” in Ikogosi resort.
Balogun’s company – a subsidiary of Cavista Holdings, an investment firm — is the current operator of the Ikogosi resort. Their management of the facility followed a concession deal signed with the state government in 2022.
“We have experienced hands of people that have managed the security of major VIPs in this country. [They] are the people that we’ve brought down here to look after our security architecture,” he said.
On his part, Dauda Ismail, chief security officer (CSO) of Cavista Holdings, stressed that the tourism site is located in a zone “whereby the crime rate here is virtually zero”.
“I’m already in touch with the conventional security forces – the police, the SSS, civil defence — and definitely, based on the statistics they have, we’re almost at a zero crime rate here,” he said.
“When you classify the crime into a felony, simple offence, for the past six months that I’ve been here, I’ve not witnessed any felony offence taking place. So, there’s no major crime like kidnapping, murder or any of these crimes happening around.”
EKITI TO LAUNCH TOURISM MASTERPLAN
On plans to develop the state’s tourism sector, Ojolanre said for any state to enhance its tourism potential to the fullest, it must first develop a tourism masterplan.
He said Ekiti has no tourism master plan.
“A tourism development masterplan is a necessity for any state that wants to develop and the governor of the state, his excellency Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, emphasised that the first thing we have to do is to develop a tourism masterplan for Ekiti and we started,” he said.
“We have started drafting our tourism policy and we have identified the consultants to work on our tourism masterplan.”
Ojolanre said the tourism masterplan would be delivered “by August and October this year”.
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