February 21, (THEWILL) – The Enugu State Ministry of Culture and Tourism has pledged to key into the state’s strategic plan of growing the state’s Internally Generated Revenue from N4.4 billion to N30 billion annually.
Honourable Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dame Ugochi Madueke, made the assurance while disclosing that the ministry will soon commence the identification of existing over one hundred tourist sites to serve as a vital tool towards making Enugu state the best destination for tourists. She said such development will enable the ministry to tackle challenges confronting the sites, especially those across hinterlands.
Speaking with the journalists at the State Secretariat in Enugu, Madueke said that the introduction of a unified e-ticketing scheme within tourism facilities will lead to economic growth, adding that e-ticketing will maximally reduce corrupt practices around the environment.
She said Enugu State is endowed with a diversity of rich tourism facilities and that even with or without ultramodern facilities the state is blessed tourism-wise.
“One local government in Awgwu alone has over six waterfalls and a lot of caves. We have the Akpugoeze Monkey Reservation, the Milky Hills, the Awhum Waterfalls, and the Ezeagu complex where we have the cold and hot water cave. We have the twin cave, we have some pockets of lakes there. We have the popular Nike Lake, we have the Adada River and in Ezeagu, Oha to be precise, we have Ebe Chukwu Biri, we have Ozala Lake and in the lake, we have both female and male crocodiles. Eziumo waterfall is an amazing place to behold.
After this, we will also have a compendium of the sites and tour guards would be attached to each of the sites to explain interesting details about the tourism sites to the guests”, she said.
On insecurity, the Commissioner stated that Enugu is safe as the ministry has inaugurated a local government seven-man tourism committee that will be in charge of protecting the tourist sites.
“We have them now in every local council and the seven-man team is headed by their chairman and they will become the eyes of the government within the area. To engender development, ‘the building of resorts around the tourist sites will make a difference, like a one-stop-shop affair. And it must not be a three-star or a five-star resort.”
Expressing her commitment to making Enugu culture and tourism activities functional, she said the state was apparently involved with lined up activities ranging from the annual event to celebrate World Tourism Day, after which they started planning for the Enugu cultural fiesta, which was not done for the past 10 years, and it was called a ‘Return Of That Fiesta’ and this was because for 10 years it had not done, we had a very colorful experience.
“We held the first of its kind Enugu carnival, a Talent hunt for the upcoming artists, Mmowu (masquerade festival and Ogene festival and Roadblock and the Roadblock turned out to be an overflowing experience. For this year, we will be having events every other month and we want Enugu to be busy”, she added.
Explaining further, she stated that the ministry is on top of preparation to host a classical music concert as well as a cultural day for the public school pupils.
She stated that as a ministry saddled with the responsibility of cultural challenges and development, the ministry has taken cognisance of recent developments pushing the Igbo language into extinction. As such, she said the ministry is set to partner with the Ministry of Education in preserving the Igbo language through competitions.
About the Author
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
