General Manager, Ikogosi Warm Springs Resort and Conference Centre, Lanre Balogun, speaks on upgrades at the facility, among other issues about the tourist centre. Charles Ajunwa brings excerpts:
Your resort in recent times has witnessed infrastructural development?
Yes, you’re right. The last time you were here was about June 2024, then we were working on the Forest (Nature) Park, the boardwalk for the springs, the cleaning and maintenance, and upgrade of the spring source, all these areas have been completed now. We also just completed the Presidential Villa, which was launched by the Minister of Tourism, Hannatu Musawa, recently. We said previously that we have 92 rooms at the resort. Camps B and C have 60 rooms while Camp A has 32 rooms. We are presently working on the road network. Once the road network is completed, construction will start. Our goal is to complete 50 per cent of those rooms by December this year because we don’t want to rush them through. We know that the rooms that we have are not enough for the demands that we are getting. Then by middle of next year, 2026, our goal is to have completed the remaining 16 rooms, bringing the total rooms available to 92 rooms. Occupancy in festive periods like Easter, the demand is way above our capacity, but in other times, like during the week, Mondays to Wednesdays, occupancy is quite low, which is why we are partnering with tour operators. The last time you were here I spoke about MICE, those organsations that have MICE businesses, we are partnering with them to bring MICE businesses here. Once we stablise the business and they begin to understand Ikogosi Resort then we will be full. But then from Thursdays to Sundays our business is very good. Let me break this down for you when I say it is not busy, some days in those periods we still get a 100 per cent occupancy but it is not as consistent like the weekends. Weekend is always a challenge for us. In fact, by 2026 we may even extend more rooms after this 32 rooms because we have noticed that we are losing revenue by not having enough rooms. The way our business runs what you do is called Average Room Occupancy. Once you have that average occupancy and you are making enough revenue to cover your overhead and having some savings for your investors you are good.
In terms of our present average room occupancy, we are looking at between 50 and 60 per cent, and we are doing better than a lot of businesses in both Abuja and Lagos from our numbers. We believe that the product that we have is the best that you can see anywhere in Nigeria. This is in regard to resort. Our target is 90 per cent occupancy and we will not rest until we get to that number, which is the target that the leadership has given us. We believe that Nigeria is a huge country, with over 220 million people and we are only just trying to sell to about 100 people. This is less than one per cent of Nigerians that we think can afford us. People love our product, and they are tired of the hassles of Lagos and other major cities. When they come here, there is serenity, the place is calm. It is a good location for MICE. It is actually MICE that is our business, but I am saying that for us to fill those other days, we need to have more MICE businesses to fill those spaces. We have people coming in at weekends. It is not that we don’t have occupancy between Mondays and Thursdays but it is just that they are low compared to weekends when we have MICE businesses.
What about attracting the leisure market with outdoor activities nearby?
We are working with tour operators in this regard because they are the ones that organise leisure travels for people that want to go on holidays, leaving their environments for places like this. So we are working with a lot of them. The importance of the visit of the Minister of Tourism is huge because that is going to give us a very massive boost. It gives visibility in the market and what I mean by visibility, I am not sure that she has visited any tourism asset that I am aware of since she was made the Minister of Tourism. As far as I know this is the first tourism asset that she is visiting in Nigeria and that will give us a lot of exposure and what we want to be is top of the mind. As a MICE destination we want to be top of the mind of every major business, and government MDAs. We know these MDAs have staff retreats, retraining and team bonding programmes. All these can be held here and they will be here without distraction. When you have a Minister visiting your property or resort, giving you that kind of leverage, it is a very, very positive one and we want to milk as much as we can the opportunity given to us by the minister. It is going to give us a lot of exposure, which is what we need because we want to be top of the mind. You can’t get a better marketing opportunity than having a member of the President’s administration visit the resort.
This was a completely dead asset that nobody was interested in. But our leadership, under our chairman, Mr. John Niyi Oladeji, thought that this place can be revived even after being discouraged by people not to go into it, that you don’t have Nigerians that have the experience to turnaround this moribund asset. But we all can see what is going on, we have seen the transformation and it is a huge investment that has been put in here and it is going to continue. This is still a construction site and you can see activities going on. We are a strategic organisation. We have a master plan and we religiously and intentionally approach the master plan step by step. Our first focus is to provide the accommodation, the living area, and the conference facilities. If you are a MICE business, what you focus on is the accommodation and the conferencing area. That way if you are bringing people here there are places to stay, a restaurant to dine in and the space for their banqueting and conferencing facility. Next up is to do the high traffic area, the entertainment area, the pool environment, the amphitheatre, the tree house and the forest park for people to engage.
In your drive to achieve your set out goals, what are the major constraints?
The most important thing that we want to see is accessibility and we don’t have control over it. The major challenge that we have is that driving from Ibadan to this place is a challenge. So we need the support and partnership of the government in making the road more accessible. That way it will automatically drive traffic for people coming around here. Not only Ikogosi but all over the country. Because if you know that you can start your car and get to Ikogosi in less than three hours, why won’t you want to come here? Others are things that we have dealt with. When we got here there was no power and we understood that there was no power for almost a decade before we got here. But in less than eight months and with the governor’s support, we were able to run a dedicated line from Ilewe to Ikogosi. Don’t forget that this is a government asset; however, in terms of investment, there is no a kobo of the government in it. This is a purely private investment but what the government has done under the leadership of Governor Abiodun Abayomi Oyebanji, is to provide the enabling environment.
What are your expectations by the end of 2025?
The picture I have in my mind is that by the end of December 2025, I will have a minimum of 16 rooms in Camp A, bringing the total rooms available to 72 rooms. I wish I could have up to 150 rooms to be able to take advantage of Detty December. The frustration is that you are turning down businesses. People are ready to pay heavily but you are turning them down. It was very frustrating and even this Easter. The picture is that I want to be able to accommodate as much people as we can for them to experience this nature gift to Africa.
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