“You are yet to see us work and without wanting to spoil your fun, you are only seeing carcasses of what is yet to be in Ekiti state tourism”.
These were strong words of assurance uttered by the amiable man of honor himself Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the executive governor of Ekiti State. The State that prides itself as the Fountain of Knowledge, which is quite true as the indigenes of the state make it mandatory amongst themselves that a family must be able to produce at least one graduate, thereby, making it a healthy competition. As a first time visitor to the state, I was amazed at the sight that beheld me, for contrary to my expectation, rather than see thatched roofs, mud houses and bad roads, I realized I had actually visited a town and a developing one at that.
Without wanting to digress from the main purpose of my visit, my team and I set out in the morning for our destination. Where? Ikogosi spring water. On our arrival we were received by Mr. Sesan Ibidun, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on tourism development, and he gave us a detailed account of what the project was all about.
The Ikogosi spring water project which is presently in its first phase is in a transitional stage of becoming a first class international resort, going by the activities at the site. The present administration, though making the spring the actual focal point, acquired about 10,000 acres of land around ikogosi with the hope of setting up a games reserve, having discovered lots of animals in the forest around the spring, the old prison has been demolished to be replaced with a civic centre; a total rehabilitation of the existing structures is taking place.
The old chapel built by a white missionary called MC Gee, hi tech gadgets are being installed for security reasons, an amphitheatre for polo, 100 chalets of different categories,24 unit accommodation in hostel form for students , internet facilities are not left out, shopping malls, good car parks, chalets overlooking swimming pools, a 5 star and three star section is expected on completion and to further encourage tourism, an heliport, a stream port and a cable car would be made available for a ride between Ikogosi and the waterfall whose magnanimous beauty from the view point of the presidential villa is a sight to behold .
The project being funded by the government has a contract figure of 1.25billion naira set aside for the first phase and will be commissioned in October 2012, and the mantis group, a south African company known to have built safaris all around the world has been commissioned to carry out this project to the latter
With all these and more being put in place, the governor made it known that the project will attain completion on its third phase and that not only is the hot and cold water producing spring project expected to help generate income it, will also to put the state on the world map of tourism.