Reps member, Ogun monarch seek investments in tourism

*WOSAM state-of-the-art arena opens in Ago-Iwoye

Deputy Minority Leader at the House of Representatives, Adesegun Adekoya, and Ebumawe of Ago-Iwoye, Oba Abdulrazaq Adenugba, have rallied indigenes of Ogun State to invest more in local businesses, especially tourism development.

The duo, at the recent opening of the WOSAM arena in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said tourism and hospitality ventures are veritable avenues to develop the State and build a lasting legacy.

Adekoya said the global dynamics of travel and tourism had shown that Nigerians need to invest more at home to give the interior a facelift. He said the initiative behind the WOSAM arena and its huge investment was a good example for all indigenes to emulate.

An elated Adekoya said: “If we do not develop ourselves, who will? Who will develop Ago-Iwoye, if we don’t? The level of investment here (WOSAM) is more than N500 million and it was done to develop Ijebu part of Ogun State. The love of one’s hometown is a religion. That is why I salute the investor as a trail-blazer.

“It would have cost him nothing to take this gigantic project to Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri, or even Abeokuta. You could have decided to put this humongous investment in Dubai, or even in South Africa and no one from here would see or know what you are doing. Rather, you have chosen to bring the world to us through this infrastructure. That is the way to go for us all,” Adekoya said.

Oba Adenugba added that a rash of new investments could only drive healthy competition that the states need to develop.

The monarch enjoined other sons and daughters of the town to emulate good examples of doing legitimate businesses and contributing their quota for the development of hometowns.

The project was facilitated and funded by a businessman and President of WOSAM Foundation, Mufutau Adekoya, who said his passion for the development of the town informed the investment.

Adekoya said he would like Ago-Iwoye to be like Las Vegas – one of the most populous cities in the United States renowned for tourism and hospitality businesses.

He said WOSAM Arena is a state-of-the-art event and multipurpose centre with 42,000 square feet of rental space that can accommodate between 100 and 4,000 guests for various events.

“What motivated me to do this was that when I returned to this town three years ago 25 years after leaving, I was unhappy that there had been no much improvement, so I thought something must be done.

“I thought I had to play my part before complaining. That brought the idea of building WOSAM Arena. To be sincere, I spent money here. I invested a lot here. People are guessing it’s billions of naira. I have not even found out how much I spent yet and I think I don’t want to know,” he said.