Saturday 10th of July was another special day in Ekiti State. Aside from being the day muslims began their annual Eid el Kabir celebrations, it was a day tourists in their scores and dozens took the celebration of the muslim festival to the zenith of the Tungba Mountain in a well organized hiking adventure.
The unique hiking event organised by 𝙷𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚄𝚜 𝙰𝚍𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 was decleared open by the Hon Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Professor Rasaki Ojo Bakare. Professor Bakare commended the organizers of the special hiking event while also acknowledging that the event has more quality and mature participants than the ones he has had similar opportunity to declare open. He informed the participants that Ekiti State, in spite of not being an industrialized State, remains the second best tourism-rich State in Nigeria.
Bakare seized the opportunity to recount the various efforts of the Kayode Fayemi administration towards repositioning the arts, culture and tourism sector of the State. He also enumerated the achievements of the Ministry which includes being the overall best State in Arts and Culture in Nigeria. The Hon Commissioner assured the participants that tourism development would continue to receive priority attention as the incoming administration has already included arts, culture and tourism in its development agenda for the State.
The leader of the organizing team Ajibola Bobola Sunday thanked the Honourable Commissioner for his support towards the actualization of the event. He also appreciated the State Director of Tourism & Hospitality, Prince Adebanji Adelusi who also came. He said he had made all provisions pertinent to security and safety of the participants in compliance with the conditions given by the Ministry.
The Hon Commissioner and the State Director of Tourism and Hospitality led the hikers about 500 metres upward the mountain while the participants and the rest of the safety and security personnel continued from there.
The event organizer, Ajibola Bobola reported that it was an exciting experience that lasted several hours until it began to rain towards the evening time.
Mountain Hiking is one of the many tourism activities that are on the increase in Ekiti State. It has been described as a sport tourism that thrives mainly in secure terrains. Ekiti State is one of the most secured places in Nigeria thereby making tourism businesses and activities flourish more than in other places. This explains why Ekiti is rated number 2 tourism-rich State in Nigeria.
This is also one of the reasons GOOGLE is partnering Ekiti State Ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism on the capturing, placement and marketing of Ekiti Tourism sites on Google Maps and Internet platforms.
Ekiti State which used to be regarded as a State bereft of social activities has witnessed a remarkable transformation under the Fayemi administration.
Ekiti Tourism & Hospitality News 