GANI ADAMS: OLUMOKO CHANGED THE FACE OF OSUN-OSOGBO, OLOJO FESTIVALS; URGES HIM TO DO MORE FOR SOUTHWEST NIGERIA IN NEW ROLE
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
L-R: President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Asiwaju Dr. Michael Olawale-Cole; Vice President, Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, ITPN, Southwest, Otunba Ayo Olumoko; his Wife, Mrs Olumoko and Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams during the investiture of Otunba Ayo Olumoko as Vice President, ITPN South-West Zone at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams has showered praises on the new Vice-President of Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN), Southwest, Otunba Ayo Olumoko at his investiture which held last Thursday in Lagos, Nigeria.
Aare Adams noted that the tourism guru, Olumoko contributed immensely to the upliftment of the Osun-Osogbo festival and working alongside the Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi on the Olojo festival.
Speaking to Trek Africa Newspaper, the high-ranking Yoruba chief said about Ayo Olumoko, ‘Let me first congratulate him on this new office. Those who took this decision have taken a very good decision. I have known Ayo Olumoko for more than 23 years and we have been together in cultural tourism. He is the one who changed the face of Osun Osogbo Festival and I give him the credit for another assignment working with Ooni of Ofe on Olojo Festival. He is a coolheaded man that understands what to do at the right time. I pray that God will give him the power to steer the ship of the organization.’
L-R: Vice President, Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, ITPN, Southwest, Otunba Ayo Olumoko with Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, Aare Gani Adams during the investiture of Otunba Ayo Olumoko as Vice President, ITPN South-West Zone at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Tasking Nigerians on tourism, Aare Adams said: ‘Tourism is very large. It is giving people joy. We haven’t tapped our tourism potentials. What we are doing is cultural tourism and entertainment industry. What about educational tourism which Ade Ojo has done his part. Who knows Ilara Mokin before erecting the university? The community has become a destination. Have we opened the space for sports tourism, what happened to sports development? When we were young, we normally go to Games Village to watch the training of Green Eagles and Golden Eaglets.’
‘What about religious tourism, although it is written in the Bible but if it is not built for tourism, what will happen to Jerusalem? What about Saudi Arabia for Hajj pilgrimage? What are we doing about Oke-Itase in Ile-Ife, what are we doing about Oduduwa Shrine? What about agricultural tourism, I went to Germany some years ago where I saw that tourism is neglected in agriculture. So we can package many things into tourism and it is a goldmine that will not be taken away from us. For tourism, the more you package it, the more you make money from it.’
During the investiture, Otunba Ayo Olumoko also shared his thoughts on tourism potentials in the Southwest and Nigeria in general. ‘There is no gainsaying that Southwest have highest deposit of cultural and tourism activities in Nigeria. Talk about heritage sites, there are many in Osun state. Nearly all the religious leaders in Nigeria are from Osun state. The tourism potential we have in Ife is huge.’
‘I studied business administration but I bear more into Integrated Marketing Communication. I bear on the cultural aspect and that is why in the Southwest I have done a lot of cultural festivals marketing, presentation, promotion, and of course, fund sourcing for most of them.
Most of the funds that I have sourced are used to develop these heritage sites. We have been able to establish public-private partnership with the community. If I can do that for myself and my area of business, why not help others’, he revealed to Trek Africa Newspaper.
The new ITPN VP in Southwest added: ‘It is unfortunate that most of our states depend on subventions. If only they can look inward, we have robust tourism activities that you can do. We have the numbers. Our population is much. We are peculiar in Nigeria. When anything new comes up, we are ready to come into it and it very well.’
‘Most of our universities and polytechnics have tourism curriculum, that is what ITPN stands for which is capacity development and training. It is an awarding body for higher institutions, public institutions, there is a lot that our government needs to learn’, he shared.
