A new modern amusement park will be constructed at the Ilutuntun Business District," H.E. Governor Seyi Makinde in last night's newsletter.

 

A new modern amusement park will be constructed at the Ilutuntun Business District," H.E. Governor Seyi Makinde in last night's newsletter.    THE BUSINESS of GOVERNANCE      Newsletter No 72 | September 2023 Hello Olusegun, How are you? Let me start by thanking you for the honest feedback you keep providing us. It definitely helps us to continue to tweak our strategies to provide better governance for you, the good people of Oyo State. At other times, your feedback is a signal to us that perhaps we have not clearly communicated some of the policies that we are adopting, and there is a need to clarify issues further. For example, in the last week, we have received feedback about the Trans-Amusement Park, Ibadan, that further reinforces our belief that tourism will be a major source of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for our dear State. And so, our resolve to seek more ways to promote tourism in Oyo State is strengthened. Since 2019, we put up the Trans-Amusement Park, for private sector investment in keeping with our mantra to ensure that the government gets value from every structure developed before now. The few people who showed interest backed out after they had an opportunity to visit the facility and do proper due diligence. The reason we have received a lack of interest is that the equipment is obsolete and cannot be repaired. It is also more expensive to scrap the equipment and construct a modern amusement park in the same location. We also considered the traffic bottlenecks that would arise if a new, far busier park remained at that location. We, therefore, decided it would be more prudent to utilise the land in this location for a housing project while we use the revenue from this to develop our dear State further. So, let me use this email to repeat that our plans for tourism under Omituntun 2.0 remain on course. It may not be carried out as some expect because several factors will impact delivery. Still, we will continue to sort out these issues to ensure that we achieve sustainable development through tourism. A new modern amusement park will be constructed at the Ilutuntun Business District through a PPP collaboration. Speaking of sustainable development, on our trip to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubus's entourage, we have been in bilateral meetings, luncheons and side events to discuss trade and investments, among other things. We were also at the NASDAQ Executive Business Roundtable organised by the US Chamber of Commerce/Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)/Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX). Of course, this also gave us an opportunity to attend the NASDAQ Closing Ceremony (Bell Ringing). And just before I go, a little update on our SAfER programme. We admit it is taking a little longer than we envisioned to actualise the SAfER packages that concern smallholder farmers, youth agropreneurs and small and micro businesses. This is because we are trying to ensure that we carry out the needed due diligence that will precede the disbursement of funds. As I already mentioned, we are looking to use the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS) and commercial or microfinance banks for this activity. Once our internal processes are completed, we will be asking eligible persons to register for the relevant SAfER package that they are interested in. Talk to you again soon.