The Directorate of Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Ibadan have commended Oyo state Governor for his ingenuity in using tourism as a tool to create more jobs and enhance income generation in the state
They also promised to form a synergy with the state government in ensuring that his vision for the sector comes into fruition
Professor Lanre Olaniyan, the Director of the center disclosed this while receiving Hon Akeem Adeomla Ige,Special Adviser to the state governor on Tourism at the office on Thursday
Olaniyan said Oyo state is endowed with a lot of tourism potentials and they are not happy with the attitude of the past administrations to the sector but now that the government is showing interest in working with us we are also ready to give our best in ensuring that the sector enjoys the best it deserve in the state
Part of where they intend to assist the state government in the sector is proper training of tour guards and other stakeholders, documentation and mapping of tourism sites as well as providing giving necessary advise and assistant on how to develop tourism sites
Olaniyan harps on the need for government to embark on sensitization and enlightenment of people on what tourism is all about, “ People need to have interest and the only way this can be achieved is arousing their interest and telling them what tourism is all about
Tourism is not about sites alone , its about the stories around it, the stories make the sites so people that would work in the sites must be properly trained, informed and equipped for the tasks”
Director of Tourism, Dr Olusegun Opadeji while introducing the department to Hon Ige said We trained professionals in tourism sector and most of our graduates are already in the field while some are lecturers in other schools
“ Apart from tourism, government should also be involved in festivals and other cultural and traditional events that will attracts tourists to the state and their coming will definitely boost the economy
The Special Adviser to the governor on Tourism, Hon Ige in his short remark said the visit is to familiarize with the institute and form a synergy with them in how to move tourism forward
“ I have been moving round the site and I am not impressed with the state of facilities at the sites and the governor is not happy too and I belief the way out is to form a synergy with the stakeholders in the sectors so that we can jointly take tourism to the next level”
Governor Makinde is ready to do transform the sector, we placed an advert seeking for investors on some of the tourism sites, we want the sites to come alive and be functional again.
