By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The team lead of a destination management outfit, owner of Ufitfly brand, Evang Ajibola Ogunkeyede on Tuesday, congratulated Gov Engr. Seyi Makinde on his re-election for the second term in office.
Evangelist Ogunkeyede in Ibadan, commended the peaceful and the alluring disposition of Engr. Makinde to the electoral process, which according to him, was responsible for his landslide victory.
He stressed that there is the need for the governor to create more enabling atmospheres for cross-cultural tourism to strive in the state by taken leverage more on the hospitality and tourism sectors to boost the economy of the state.
” I want to believe that the governor has done well to earn the trust of Oyo State people which was evident in the way he was massively re-elected, hence we will like to see a good collaboration with the state government in the area of boosting the hospitality, sports-tourism and pilgrimage sectors”, he said.
Evangelist Ogunkeyede added, ” This significantly is aimed at promoting cultural assets for national pride, deploying our diverse and rich experiences and resources aimed at helping the government combating the vices such as youth restiveness, insecurity, unemployment etc with hospitality, sports-tourism and pilgrimage”.
Emphasizing that ” sports is now a money spinning venture and a key component of tourism which brings some significant benefits to the destinations that sports’ event are hosted, with economic boosts, both direct and indirect, being among these advantages, he said, ” our government is yet to take full advantage of this”.
Stressing further that the direct spending by sports tourists at host facilities, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues stimulates the local economy, and Jobs are created, and tax revenue is earned,
Evangelist Ogunkeyede said “the Ufitfly brand is a good ambassador of Oyo State because it has grown to become the biggest player in the Christian pilgrimage sector in Africa with many awards of recognitions for unblemished records in moving Christian pilgrims from Nigeria to Israel and Jordan.
Evangelist Ogunkeyede tasked Gov. Makinde having rebuild the Lekan Salami Sports Complex into an international standard to complement the good deed by ensuring a synergy between sports and tourism which fall under five categories: sports participation, sports training, sporting events, tourism with sports content, and luxury sports travel.
According to him, ” if the youth are properly managed through active engagement in sports and a good collaboration is fashioned out between sports and tourism, the state and the country will maximally generate great revenues that will surpass what is derivable from oil”.
