EEkiti State is a land blessed with tourist endowments. The state, with its laid back mien coupled with the picturesque countryside, is leisure therapy for any leisure-minded visitor. But in addition to that, it has the phenomenal Ikogosi Warm and Cold Spring, the pristine Arinta Waterfall and many more. It is in line with this that the current government of Ekiti State made tourism as part of its agenda.
The state, apart from its famed status as Nigeria’s “home of professors” and “Fountain of Knowledge”, Ekiti State is arguably one of the places in Nigeria that has developed a clear roadmap for destination marketing.
While articulating the eight-point agenda of his administration on assumption of office on October 16, 2010, Governor Kayode Fayemi said, among others, that making Ekiti State the most attractive destination for relaxation and holidays would be a major focus of his government.
He added that tourism corridors around Efon, Okemesi, Ikogosi and Ipole-Iloro, among others, would be upgraded and well marketed as part of efforts to reposition the state for sustainable development and economic prosperity.
A few years down the line, the Fayemi administration has not only talked, it has walked the talk with the launch of a number of initiatives aimed at actualizing its vision for destinatsion marketing and tourism promotion. One of them is the aggressive revamp and massive infrastructure development at the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort in Ikogosi-Ekiti.
The dilapidated resort, which hitherto had suffered years of neglect by successive administrations, is now a splendid tourists’ haven boasting state-of-art and world-class amenities such as asphalt-laid access roads, cozy chalets, spacious multi-purpose halls, swimming pool, amphitheatre, terrace tour walkways and exquisite cuisine, among others. The tourist site is also being managed by a South African tourism development firm, Mantis Collection.
Aligned to the new status of the resort, the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort is almost living far ahead of its expectation, playing host to different spheres of tourism from leisure to academic tourism. Thus, the resort was the choice attraction for the hosting of the maiden edition of the Ikogosi Graduate Summer School (IGSS), a multi-pronged knowledge and capacity building platform for promoting qualitative postgraduate scholarship in the state.
A total of 50 Ekiti indigenes participated in the summer school, the first of its kind in Nigeria. An array of respected international scholars from Nigeria and those in the Diaspora were also on hand to take various sessions of teaching and knowledge sharing during the two-week residential mentoring school, with all expenses borne by the state government.
Erudite professor of literature at the University of New Orleans, United States, Niyi Osundare, who gave a keynote address at the opening of the IGSS, commended the Fayemi administration for the achievements made in such a short time to put the state back on the global tourism map.
Speaking on ‘‘The Spirit of Ikogosi’’, he celebrated the new allure that the Ikogosi Warm Spring has become among other tourism sites thus:
‘‘But as we look round today, a terrific difference arrests our gaze: gleaming access roads, enticing swimming pools, cozy chalets, capacious multi-purpose halls, spacious amphitheatre (with dramatic intimations of the famous Christ’s School Quadrangle), wood-terraced tour walks, etc. A world-class golf course is rearing to tee off into existence to the pastoral astonishment of a sleepy Ekiti terrain, etc. A world-class golf course is even teeing into existence much to the pastoral astonishment of a sleepy Ekiti terrain. There is every indication that Ikogosi is beckoning to the world; the tourist naira rain is about to fall’’, he said.
Osundare further foresaw the Fountain of Knowledge state as a beckoning ‘‘Disneyland’’ and one of the most exquisite tourist sites around the world, declaring that ‘‘but Ikogosi has more pages to its book of wonder. It is a natural endowment not just a tourist bonanza; a tender habitation, not a mindless haunt; a deep spiritual haven, not a mere sybaritic asylum; a place to stand and stare, not just to hail and holler.’’
Governor Fayemi, while speaking at the graduate school, revealed that the administration was committed to the development of the resort. ‘‘For those that have been here before we embarked on our reconstruction project, you must be amazed at the transformation that has taken place already. I am certain that the tranquility and beauty of the ambience here would augur well for the rigorous intellectual engagements that would be taking place here’’, he declared.
Indeed, it only took a few days for Prof. Osundare’s near prophetic assertiveness to come to manifestation as the warmth of the same Ikogosi Spring enchanted a group of young Nigerian ladies who were on a tour of the expansive splendor on Sunday, June 23 as part of their knowledge tour of Nigeria, preparatory to their main contest for the coveted Miss Nigeria crown.
The Miss Nigeria Pageant contestants who were hosted by the First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, also undertook a film shoot at the Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort. Their experience of the spring resort is something that they would not forget in a hurry.
Receiving the team, the First Lady said that although she was not pleased with the current bastardisation of beauty pageantry in Nigeria, she agreed to host the young contestants as an opportunity to showcase the achievements of the present administration in tourism development and destination marketing.
‘‘It’s so great to see you all in one piece here in Ekiti State. When the proposal came to me about Ekiti State being part of the Miss Nigeria, I decided to consider it because of the people promoting this.
‘‘Again, I saw it as an opportunity for people to see what we are trying to do in the field of tourism and to promote the state as a place people can come for business, for leisure and for other productive things because they will see that Ekiti is peaceful, there’s stability and we have warm-hearted people. So, welcome to our state, I’m glad to hear that you have enjoyed your stay and I pray that when you leave, you will arrive at your various destinations safely’’, Mrs Fayemi said.
As a way of restoring the glory of beauty pageant, she counselled the contestants to develop quality personal character.She told them to be compassionate and comport themselves well at all times. She said these virtues would see them through life successfully, if they could embrace them. The Miss Nigeria team also visited the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejuyigbe, in his palace.
The Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort is the most popular and most developed tourist site in the state. Its warm spring is a unique natural feature that draws hundreds of international and local tourists to the site. What is mysterious about the Ikogosi Warm Spring is the fact that flowing side by side the warm spring is another spring, a cold one.
According to experts, it is a geological wonder to have such occurrence out of the same rock formation and this Ekiti flagship tourist destination is said to be the only one of its kind discovered anywhere in the world. The warm and cold springs of Ikogosi originate from a close proximity, come to a meeting point and flow onward together with each spring retaining its thermal identity. It represents uniqueness and is the first of such occurrence in the world. The warm spring has a temperature of up to 70 degree Celsius at the source and 37 degree Celsius after meeting the cold spring. The meeting point of the warm and cold springs is a unique attraction to tourists.
The springs sprout out and flow with a constant temperature and volume up to 150 litres/seconds from morning till night, at all seasons, all-year round. The whole environment of the spring has been deliberately left untampered with, for eco-tourism appeal while the source of the warm spring has been provided with a viewing structure for easy spotting by tourists. Strangely also, there is a tree and a palm growing from the same source at the meeting point area of the warm and cold springs. A wonderful work of nature!
Another unique quality of the Ikogosi Warm Spring is its acclaimed curative power. It is widely believed to have some kind of therapeutic effect which relieves body aches and all sorts of ailments. A lot of tourists visiting the place take advantage of the large warm water swimming pool provided for this purpose and other recreational needs. Owing to the uniqueness of the spring, UAC of Nigeria, one of the largest conglomerates in the country has established a table water processing and packaging firm around the resort providing jobs to hundreds of indigenes.
Many stakeholders have also applauded the resort as a haven to be any time of the day or season. For instance, the General Manager of Mantis Collection, John Dixon, said that ‘‘what’s key in tourism is location and Ikogosi Springs Resort is in a beautiful location.
‘‘We’ve seen the sincerity of purpose of the Ekiti State government. I am impressed with the passion of every member of the government team’’, he added, while promising that part of his firm’s mandate is to train and manage members of the community in helping to run the resorts.
Ekiti is also a land blessed with many other tourist attractions, namely, Ipole-Iloro Water Falls; Olosunta Hills, Ikere; and Fajuyi Memorial Park, Ado-Ekiti, among others. The state is also blessed with water resources like Ero, Osun, Ose and Ogbese rivers.
