La Campagne Beach Resort will opening its second property in Nigeria at Koton Karfe, Kogi State. To achieve this, the community recently hosted a team of La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort management led by the president and founder of La Campagne, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye.
It was a mix of culture and glamour at the palace of the Ohimege Igu, Koton Karfe, Alhaji Gambo Abdulrazak Isa Koto . The occasion was to formalise the birth of La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort in the community and the presentation of the Certificate of Occupancy (CoF O) site and survey plan for the 90 hectares of land ,approximately 270 acres of land that the community has donated for the building of the resort.
Addressing the emir and his people, Akinboboye, disclosed that the development was not only gratifying, but a historic event given that 30 years after La Campagne berthed at Ikegun Village, near Lekki, Lagos, as a solely African themed resort, the people of Koton Karfe is the second community to realise the importance of having La Campagne resort in their midst and had graciously gone ahead to donate an expanse of communal land for the project.
He spoke glowingly of the uniqueness of the African themed resort, which he said is focused on promoting African cultural values and tradition, insisting that when people come to Africa and Nigeria by extension, they have come to experience the culture of the people hence he said that:
”We must take our culture and polish it and then take it into our hotels and resorts but we have so far failed in doing this and the people (tourists) are disappointed when they come because we only treat them to the cheap imitation of their own culture,” adding that ”it is only when you get other people to buy into your culture and experience it that you prosper and your culture endures.”
Akinboboye spoke of the enormous economic benefits of hinging tourism development on the country’s culture, saying that ”when you build around your culture, you will empower your people.” Therefore, he said that the emir should be commended for his foresight and dedication to the welfare and development of his people and community.
”It is the empowerment of the people that the emir is promoting through the La Campagne project. The prosperity that will come to Koton Karfe will come from the visitors from the various parts of the world because we are going to build the resort around the culture of the Koton karfe community,” he said, adding that ”the advantage will be for the people of Koton Karfe because they are the owners of the culture.
”It is when you take advantage of your advantage, which is your culture that you have advantage over others. Nobody can promote your culture more than yourself and that is what we want to do with Koton Karfe culture,” he stressed ,even as he disclosed that the community would be the one to drive the project as it will create employment for them in every spheres.
Citing the instance of the Ikegun Village where the resort in the last 30 years has brought tremendous physical and economic developments to the people with over 80 per cent of the personnel drawn from within the community.
”Eighty per cent of our staff are from Ikegun Village and they have been enriched and empowered through the services of the resort to the extent of having their own personal houses and many other economic benefits,”he said.
