FEATURES: New Face Of Ikogosi Warm Springs

Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort

Ikogosi Warm Springs Resorts is a testimony to visionary leadership with the recent inauguration of its first phase by Governor Kayode Fayemi. TUNDE BUSARI reports the transformation of the tourist site to a potential goldmine in Ekiti State.

A group of three first time visitors to the Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort last Saturday repeatedly screamed at the monumental tourist site hiding inside a thick tropical forest in Ikogosi. The ancient town is found within Ekiti West Local Government Area.

The visit of the three friends, which coincided with the commissioning of the first phase of the site by Governor Kayode Fayemi, afforded them the rare opportunity to appreciate one of the tourists’ destinations with which God has endowed Ekiti State.

Sola Williams, a member of the group, an Abeokuta-based bank employee, kept wondering why the past administrations in the state, dubbed as fountain of knowledge, had not fully explored the economic potential of the site.

Williams, who claimed to have once been in the company of his dad to Israel, argued that the tourism value of the Middle East state earns the reputation with which it is identified among Christain in the world.

“With due respect to the religious importance as a banker all I saw about the place is the revenue Israeli government would be making from Tourists. There is nothing stopping government of the states blessed with natural resources as this to waste it.

“ I think the incumbent governor is getting it right with what I am seeing here today,” the fun loving Williams said on a bottle of chilled table water at a joint located within the resort.

Apt to the banker’s position, Saturday Newswatch gathered that from the first day governor Fayemi stepped into office in 2010, he made it clear that his would be a government with a clear mandate of turning stone to bread.

An investment in Tourism with a view to selling Ekiti State to the outside world and making cool money from the tourists’ patronage, is one of his eight-point agenda.

Although many visitors who had thronged the resort to witness the commissioning were compelled to endure a long wait as the governor could not arrive until late in the evening.

This, according to Fayemi, was caused by the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the state on the same day. The disappointment notwithstanding, the inspiring state of the resort made up for any perceived or real shortcoming observed on the day.

In the brief commissioning, Fayemi, spotting a branded shirt complemented by a fez cap, impressed it upon the teeming crowd of his commitment to wrestle the warm springs from a waste.

He also promised to extend the development to other tourism sites in the state, stressing that the second phase of the redevelopment would be massive.  It will include; a game reserve on about 10,000 hectares of land, a three- star hotel, a golf course and apartments among other features.

Already, the whole place is a beauty to behold with asphatic roads making accessibility easy for tourists and workers. Unlike what obtained in the past, when tourists usually went through hard time to access the site, there is now constructed a long wooden bridge that take tourists through the swampy surface to the interior. This innovation is done with consideration for relaxation need of the tourists as different spots are specially put in place on the platform.

The swimming pool section is now upgraded carved within an enclosed building. The executive chalets, overlooking the spring, are situated on the hilly side. This facility allows tourists to pass the night with all amenities that would make their stay enjoyable.

Lovers of English Premiership League have turned the resort to their meeting point, exploring the restaurant where they savour different league matches on bottles of their choice drinks. Paul Ajayi, a school teacher told this medium about how the redeveloped resort has turned him to a football fan over night.

Ajayi said he first accompanied his friend to the centre and fell in love with the general ambience of the place.

“This is the best place to be during the match. There is no problem of power failure or hooliganism by fanatics. Everybody comes, takes his drink, enjoy good football and return home after the match,” he said.

Perhaps, the successful hosting of a cultural group from Cuba last year inspired the governor to add a modern amphi-theatre to the facilities at the resort. It was learnt that the all-female international Bata dancers, Obini Bata from Cuba, had a swell time during their performance with their Ekiti State counterparts.

Odunola Temitayo, a female performing artist, recalled the Cuba delegate visit with nostalgia and praised Fayemi for making Ekiti State an attraction to a troop from far away Northern American country.

“I took part in the event and it was all fun and exchange of ideas. Those Cuban really enjoyed themselves that they promised to always come back here to learn more dance styles. Ekiti state is a state of culture and they saw it in us,” Temitayo said.

That the resort has a facility where the governor, on the same day, launched his latest book,’ ‘Regaining The Legacy’ speaks further of the sophistication of the centre. The modestly spacious hall, has of course, added to the number of the event centres in the state.

An Ikogosi community leader, Aaron Adeniji, was simply overwhelmed by the on-going transformation of the resort. To this end, he said the governor had earned a pass mark for his administration, describing him as a true progressive, whose works have earned him a bright future in the state.

This article was first published in Saturday Newswatch

Last modified: October 26, 2013