Minister for Tourism, Mrs Lola Ade John, has promised to attend the grand finale of the fourth edition of the Iyake International Tourism Festival, which is held annually every November in Ado-Awaiye, Iseyin local government of Oyo State.
The pledge was made when the Alado of Ado-Awaye, Oba Reverend Emmanuel Ademola Olugbile Folakanmi, Makuledoye II, the Soludero 1, paid a courtesy visit to the minister’s office in Abuja.
The minister was elated and appreciated the visit, saying that she was grateful to receive the Oba, who deemed it fit to come personally to invite her to grace the grand finale of the tourism festival, which is the first of its kind by an Oba to the ministry.
She said, “Your Royal Majesty, coming to invite me shows the importance you attach to the tourism sub-sector of the economy, and the ministry will support you and the community to showcase the festival’s potential in conjunction with the Oyo State Ministry for Culture and Tourism.
“The Federal Ministry of Tourism will be well represented, and I will attend’.’
Lola John commended the Alado of Ado-Awaye for his language fluency and dedication to the promotion and celebration of tourism, which makes it very encouraging for her and the ministry to partner with the community and the Oyo State government to ensure the success of the Tourism Festival.
The minister informed him of her ministry’s efforts towards promoting and showcasing the country’s global tourism potential, which was why she attended the Global Tourism Organization’s meetings recently held in Spain, Canada, and America, among others.
She said these efforts are ‘geared towards selling the country’s tourism potential to the outside world so that Nigeria will be the next tourist destination’.
Earlier in his opening remarks, Oba Ademola Olugbile explained the purpose of his courtesy call on the minister, saying, ‘I am encouraged and persuaded to compliment the resolves and drives of the federal government through the Ministry of Tourism to bring on board the tourism potentials of Ado-Awaye which have been yet untapped fully’.
Kabiyesi said that immediately after he was installed as the Alado of Ado-Awaye, he resolved to make the Iyake Hanging Lake a tourism spot, where both the tourists and investors can take advantage to increase the internally generated revenue for the country and the state through the promotion of these potentials that abound on the Ado Hill where the Iyake Hanging Lake is.
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