Lagos presidential lodge as heritage tower

Recently, Presidential Muhammadu Buhari signed off the papers of the huge presidential lodge on Lagos Marina and handed it to Lagos governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode who immediately rolled out futuristic tourism action plans that will turn the Marina-Onikan axis of the Lodge into a gathering nest for visitors and tourists.

The governor’s dream position did not get me into a celebration mood as I’m yet to put a finger to why he did away with his very progressive tourism apostle and former Commissioner for Tourism, Mr. Folarin Coker recently. But an early morning call from Otunba Segun Runsewe, the enigmatic former boss of Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) on the issue tickled my fancy. To those who are close to Runsewe, this man from Ijebuland has the clairvoyant eye that could see through any tourism project and when he pleaded that Governor Ambode should build a signature world heritage and visitors towers within the vicinity of the lodge, with a strategic rail connection to Lagos Airport, one simply woke up from bed and dashed to the study room to take down his points and evaluate them.

When tourism truly gets into a man’s blood and his whole being, one simply goes crazy, sometimes with ideas and creativity that even bankers and architects cannot understand. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo told me in Abeokuta last week that each time he wakes up to creatively discuss new additional facilities to his Oke Mosan mega tourism Green Legacy Resort, those around him thinks he has gone “Gaga”.

So Runsewe went “Gaga” and told me that governor Ambode with the Presidential lodge in his kitty, is now within the threshold of transforming and rebranding Lagos into a tourism job and revenue making machine if he could put up a heritage and visitors tower that could aid visibility range to Lagos districts of Ikeja, Agege, Lekki, Epe, Badagry, and Ikorodu.

Runsewe is not done yet. He prayed the governor to add tourist facilities such as cable car, children play ground, electronic photo shop, food courts and a 24/7 entertainment window to service the signature heritage and visitors tower which he predicted could create over 160,000 jobs and unbelievable daily rush of bags of money to the banks. Now I understand why former President Obasanjo disclosed recently in Abeokuta that Nigeria made a terrible mistake by letting Otunba Runsewe leave the federal tourism beat. From Dubai to Taiwan, the memorable visit to similar heritage sites gushed back to my brain as I went into an emergency trance and find myself in Burg Khalifa in Dubai and later at the Surrealistic ambiance of World Trade Centre in Taiwan, iconic signature heritage towers to which Runsewe pleads their replicas for Ambode’s Lagos tourism dream.

Runsewe from all indications was very excited about President Buhari’s gesture and is convinced that Ambode would do something great with the presidential lodge. Since he left office about three years ago under a very questionable political circumstances, Runsewe had kept out of the public “eye”, grants no interview nor take position on any notable tourism issue and that’s why this grand “suretie” for Ambode tourism stride looks “strange” to the ordinarily man on the street but cheering to many Nigerians who regrets the absence this large hearted tourism advocate and rues his achievements that made the world take a second look at Nigeria as a destination.

As I made to round up this piece, I could picture the suggested signature heritage and visitors tower in my head and attempts to wipe it away refuses to go away, including the crowd, the new look and rebranded marine / Onikan axis, the rail from Lagos airport to Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), the food courts, the mingle of black and white souls, the love of an tourism World made in Lagos and One Lagos, a story told differently and the beginning of interesting conversation of a people and a city with a global livable infrastructure.

There is no doubt Ambode could deliver but my fear lies in the right manpower to drive these types of initiatives. Runsewe would agree with me that those who made tourism happen elsewhere were no push over and were allowed to swim and swim with their dreams. Can governor Ambode find such tourism dream achievers? In three years from now, we shall see if the Lagos Presidential lodge will become a tourism revenue machine. The countdown has begun.