AS the world prepares for this year’s St. Valentine’s Day, on February 14, lovers and guests at the La Campagne Tropicana Beach and Forest Resort, Ikegun Lagos State are set for a new experience in African leisure and hospitality offering. Among other entertaining facilities in the resort, La Campagne will be offering a novel opportunity for visitors to enjoy the newly constructed Ilaje tribe traditional chalets, built on the lagoon water.
The innovative chalets, which the proprietor of the resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye said would be the first of its kind in the country, would offer the resort’s guests the opportunity to experience living on the lagoon water as seen in most Ilaje settlements like in Makoko. However, the traditional chalets on water would come with first class hospitality facilities.
The soon to be commissioned chalets would be on lagoon water and lodgers could only access the accommodation by boats.
According to Akinboboye, La Camapgne Resort is an African theme built on selling African culture to international visitors to Nigeria and other African countries. He said: “Every aspect of La Campagne Tropicana Beach and Forest Resorts is predicated on promoting African cultural experience. This includes the food, accommodation, dance, our way of greeting and general way of life.”

Akinboboye explained further his passion to promote tourism not just in Nigeria, but in Africa as a whole, and to achieve this, he has also launched 52 tourism products that would help turn around the economy of Nigeria and Africa. “So far, between November and now, we have unveild 12 tourism products for the benefit of Nigerian market. The tourism products are: DNERP (Diaspora Nigeria Economic Recovery Programme); YATE; Kamp Afrika; CAER; Building Bridge; Yoru’ Bar; Beach Safaris; Scuba Diving; HURP (Hope Unity Rebirth Prosperity); Motherland Beckons’ Heed The Call; IPADA; and IPADA Carnival.
“We believe that if Dubai with less than four million people (population) and zero Diaspora population, could achieve so much, then the whole of the continent of Africa should be able to record a minimum of 50 million people, putting together all tourism products available throughout the continent,’’ noted Akinboboye.

Speaking further, he said, ‘‘we are not asking for handouts, we are asking them to come and take advantage of the vast opportunities in Africa. We are giving them open opportunities, for them to have easy connection to the entire continent that will be championed by Nigeria.
‘‘They will be using Lagos State as the gateway, being the biggest economy in Africa, and the largest concentration spot in Africa, it is the gateway to get people of African descent and lovers of Africa to connect with the continent.’’
All of the 52 tourism products, he said, have the potential to create multiple activities or adventures that will offer memorable experiences for the people and by extension add value to the economy of Africa especially growing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through tourism.
It is in this regard that he spoke glowingly of IPADA Carnival, one of the 12 products so far released by him, which according to him, is multi-dimensional and offers opportunity for Africa to fuse into one big market for the people to harvest rich fun, explaining that, “we are targeting a minimum of 50 million people annually that will be coming to the African continent through Nigeria, taking advantage of our deep seaport at Lekki.
‘‘We are transforming slave ships to cruise ships and then luxurious airlines. Now, we are celebrating our prosperity, our resilience, our growth, our development, and our contribution to the world economy.
0‘‘At the end of the year, there would be a huge harvest, a celebration of that Motherland Beckons’ Heed The Call, and a huge harvest of the celebration of heeding that call, ‘IPADA.’’