Destination Ondo is a response to recreate Africa, says Akinboboye

The President of La Campagne Tropicana Lagoon, Beach and Forest Resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, who is also a consultant to Ondo State government on Tourism, said “Destination Ondo is project channelled on re-creating a new generation of Africans that would be enviable across the world for producing great values from ordinary things in nature.

Akinboboye, who currently spare-heads the development of Destination Ondo Hills Resort in the state, said the Destination Ondo project is focusing on transforming Africa.

According to him, Africa needs to tell their story, especially by itself. “We are to redefine our image, our content and ourselves and this is what Destination Ondo is about. Every day, we are writing our actual stories with great pride and we want the world to come and learn from our African values,” he said.

“We want the world to come and enjoy our resources but in sustainable ways. The world has a lot to learn and benefit from Africa. We should not deny the world, and we should not deny ourselves the benefits attached to this. Dubai was a desert, they re-wrote its story and the world is better for it. Panama also re-wrote its story, why not Africa?” He wondered.

Highlighting the vision of the project, he said, “We are deliberate about the creation of jobs, at Destination Ondo we are crystallising the numerous values of our indigenous people and our God-given natural environment. These are parts of our programme at the Continent Building Initiative (CBI).

“We are showcasing this to the world to create equitable and sustainable wealth for resident Africans. Due to the unsustainable ways we have managed our resources in the past, lots of Africans are migrating in search of jobs. But in Destination Ondo, we are deliberate in creating jobs locally.

“Our people can proudly work here without losing their personalities, histories and cultural values. They will be able to raise their children as Africans who can distinguish good values from bad values and project the African heritage.”

Speaking further, he said, “We are offering amazing market experiences for people. At Destination Ondo, we are creating a market of amazing experiences where people can come from all over the world for self-studies or group learning. All facilities that guarantee their comfort are provided. These include all forms of fun and engagements to create a memorable experience.”

According to him, unlike many areas in the world that are not geographically favoured, a whole lot of places in Africa are blessed with excellent natural vegetation, saying that Africa still has indigenous natural plants with medicinal and social values.

He noted that Africa has good soil and natural animals ranging in the wild undisturbed, saying that these are potential for knowledge inquisition on the natural interactions of different members of the natural ecosystem.

Akinboboye said: “We are going to market our heritages across board. One of the special features of the Destination Ondo Tourism project is that we are also deliberately marketing our local dialect and speaking accents. They are heritages handed down to us by our great grandparents.

“It comes with our pride, nuances, message contents, body languages, names and identities of many of our local features, indigenous architectures, indigenous animals, insects, plants and cultural relations.

“A whole package of economic bundles will be lost forever if we do not deliberately revive this. We have to incentivise the speaking of our Ondo dialect and make the world see reasons to learn it. It is the language that built great industries in the past and the potentials are not lost, it only needs to be set on a clear path.”

He noted that the tourists would have the opportunity of interacting with the indigenous people for cross-cultural, cross-national and cross-continental value exchanges, saying that the project is focusing on a knowledge-based economy.

He said, “It’s quite funny today that many families are mistaking language for knowledge, but it is not. The ability to speak English for example does not imply that you can design a jet that will fly. Designing that jet is knowledge.

“If you develop yourself in that critical knowledge you will produce a jet anywhere you find yourself in the world, regardless of the language you speak. That accounts for why Asians are doing wonders across the world today.

“They focus first on the knowledge, but we are doing the exact opposite. That accounts for why foreigners are designing our civilisation for us and we are only interpreting them in vocal grammars. We are taking a back seat in the journey of our own destiny.”

“Finally, we are creating a new generation of Africans as Destination Ondo is not just a place to visit but a package of life experience. We are a people re-creating a new world out of relative obscurity. Taking advantage of our advantage and creating a desirable product that the world needs.

“We are doing these while solving major problems of the world. We are solving the problems of poverty, insecurity, inappropriate migration, inadequate working skills, readdressing value migration, and restoring genuine African confidence.

“We are using the power of knowledge and organisation to take decisive and generational steps in order to rebuild the African continent.”