With several natural water bodies in Igboland, it is important to consider exploring the water tourism potential of Igboland. The partial demolition of some parts of the Landmark beach resort brought nationwide outcry as the federal government of Nigeria in a bid to construct a highway covering the coastal part of the country led to partial demolition of some part of the property.
The event drew nationwide attention with calls beckoning on Igbos to invest in water bodies within Igboland for such leisure or fun beach projects. While these calls may be somewhat emotional, they call for greater attention. It is one thing to call for more investment in the southeast of the country but it is also important to examine if the region has the required water bodies for such projects and also consider the available market.
After the partial landmark demolition fiasco and the ensuing public outcry, the landmark properties have taken steps to establish even in far away Gambia yet the firm’s major executives are Igbos. The earlier call for investment by such a beach resort in Southeast would get even better attention in answering the question that perhaps the Lagos market is facing some challenges, why not the eastern market? Why far away Gambia?
This raises the question, is there something these locations offer that the Southeast or even the entire East don’t? Situations like this make us look critically into the water tourism potential of Igboland, how it can be explored, limitations, and other concerns.
Water tourism potential availability in Igboland or the Entire East
Depending on how one looks at it, water tourism potential availability is there whether in the entire East of the country Or specifically in the Southeast (Igbo mainland). There are the water bodies in all forms one can think of, Islands, rivers, lakes, beaches, etc., however, water bodies alone are not enough to build beach resorts.
The general nature of the people and their cities have to be considered. For instance, while the East has several locations for beach resorts, the population and commercial distribution in proximity to such potential tourist or leisure attractions is limited.
Take for instance Lagos. Lagos is a port city and one of the largest port cities in Africa. The people in Lagos are close to the water and used to it. Lots of businesses in Lagos are tied to water bodies. Be it entertainment, transportation, or the shipping industry.
These are all big-money industries that are already connected to the water tourism market. In this case, people are more fond of the water bodies in Lagos. This creates a ready market. It can then be said that the bigger challenge to exploring the water tourism potential of AlaIgbo is the lack of a market.
Looking further at the lack of a market for water tourism in the East
Developing the water tourism potential of Igboland will be a bit complicated for now. The East especially the South East is a huge commercial and industrial zone however most of the activities in the East happen on land. A non coastal residence preference and market reality also supports more activities in the dry part of the zone.
Markets near water bodies are quite unusual save for the case of Onitsha and a few others located at the bank of rivers however, these waterside markets have low traffic volume and do not serve as major ports of call.
There are fewer expatriates in the East and the port money isn’t available. A huge chunk of Nigerian revenue comes from the ports now with no fully functional seaports in the East then the Eastern waters don’t receive much traffic as such become a less viable market for water tourism.
The reality is that while there’s a huge amount of money in circulation in the East; since such money is not coming through the water given the absence of functional seaports, the people are not going to be very motivated to spend the money through the water. This logic could be flawed but that’s what investors are thinking.
The people are not close to the water, they don’t make their money in or around the water, and in most cases, they don’t even live close to the water so why invest around the water? The willingness of the people to spend money in such an environment is another concern.
The Nature of the people and its impact on Water tourism
The Igbo man or woman in the East is a serious person. This seriousness may impact the water tourism potential of Igboland. While running a business in Aba, Onitsha, Ogbete, and other markets in Igboland, would they make time for leisure?
The Igbos have the least interest in civil service jobs and prefer entrepreneurship most of the time. Lagos has several civil service sectors and other institutions that don’t open on weekends, this makes the weekends in Lagos a period of fun, parties, clubs; beach-goers always look forward to the weekends.
In Igboland, every day is business save for Sunday and on Sunday most people go to church and in the evening men gather in small clusters to discuss events of the week; discussing even more business. Some other people pay visits to families often on Sundays. Sundays also create avenue for leisure but not a very serious one enough to generate huge traffic for a beach resort.
The nature of the people is the very factor making the beach resort business unattractive in the East, there’s just no time in the East and the Igbos seem to find the most pleasure in running their business so in most cases the market for leisure may not be practically available.
Conclusion
While the East has the right amount of natural water bodies for water tourism, given the current reality, ambitious water tourism projects may not bring the expected result in the East. Maybe if there are more government presence, government jobs, and port infrastructure, more money and business will be tied to the waters as such more people will love to spend some leisure time around the waters thereby possibly leading to the realization of the water tourism potential of Igboland.
Also if there are more civil service and other formal employment that don’t warrant opening on Saturdays, individuals can feel more relaxed during the weekends. This is most likely not going to be the case, even the small civil service and other workers in the East run a side business that they look towards the weekend to pay more attention to. The Igbos and entrepreneurship seem inseparable.
Unless small to medium beach resort projects, investing hugely in beaches or other water tourism projects in Igboland may be dicey. It could work given that the people have the money but whether the Igbos will give the level of patronage required to sustain such businesses remains to be seen.
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