
Whentheideaof Nibanlola Motherland was born about six years ago, the aim was to createafarmthatwillserveassource of agriculturalgoodstonotonlyresidents of Ondo Kingdom, but also to people of OndoState, theSouthWest and with time, the entire nation.
Anewphase
But today, the focus in the area of deliveryagricultural output remains, but the vision for the establishment has changed, as the facility has embraced other ventures to include hospitality and tourism. Basically, it has transformed from just a farm to anagro/tourismestablishment, with facilitytoservebothlocalandinternational community.
Just after about six years in business, Nibanlola Motherland boasts of a farm that incorporates poultry, piggery, cattle ranch, camels, donkeys, horses, a tomatoes farms among others, sports facilities that include an international standard golf course, lawn tennis courts, table tennis courts, swimming arcade, a standard gym, artificial lakes for all forms of water sports, amusement parks, a64roomhotelfacilitynearing completion, abottlewater factory, and a proposed golf view estate.
The new community with focus on agro tourism with world class facilities in sporting and tourism is so captivating, that when the doors of the facility was flung open to members of the public by the Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN recently, the level of development was a shock to many first time visitors, who saw the kind of facility and level of infrastructure put in placeassurpassingthestandardthey are used to in this part of the word.
Akeredolu’s impression
Akeredolu, who was represented by his deputy, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa, described the founder of the facility, Hon DrAjibayo Adeyeye, a medical doctor, lawyer, formerMajorityLeader in the LagosStateHouse of Assembly and Special Adviser to the Ondo State governor on Legislative and Political Matters and his wife, Prof Olufunke Adeyeye as special gifts to Ondo kingdom and the state. While acknowledging God as the one who gave the duo the power to makewealthandpartof the“wealth He has given the founderof Nibonola Motherland is what he has used to give back to the society.”
Declaring the doors of the facility located on Kilometer 7, Ore-Ondo Road, Igbado, Ondo West Local GovernmentAreaof thestate, thedeputy governorsaid,“Onbehalf of thegovernorof OndoState, itgivesmegreat pleasure to be present at this auspiciousoccasionof the commissioning of Nabanola Motherland, I want to heartily congratulate Dr.’Jibayo and his wife for this laudable project, it’s a laudable one because when he ran through all that is embedded in this place, it is wonderful.
“I am told this project is in three sections, which he went through earlier, the farm, the resort and the golf view estate, which is a private residential area of the facility, this is quite thoughtful of you, Dr Ajibayo. “Nabanola Motherland in addition to its agricultural based operations has all the attractions in these differentareas, allinonelocation, you don’t need togo far, everything ishere, this is indeed world class.”
Nibanola Motherland Speaking
earlier about the facility, Dr Adeyeye noted that Nibanola Motherland, is a vision he conceived with his wife, “and we have worked at it in the last three years, we started by establishing a farm, about six and half years ago, in the farm we have a poultry and the poultry has over sixty thousand layers and produce between 1100 and 1200 crates of eggs every day, we also have a piggery, we have a cattle ranch, a palm tree plantation, a cocoa plantation, a plantain plantation, a kolanut plantation, a tomato farm among others. “The resort was conceived only about three years ago, about two and half yearsago, wherewearepresently gathered was a very tick forest, we didn’tthinkof doingaresort, wewere just doing our farm, but we realised the topography of the area, that the naturalresourcespresentherecanbe harnessed together as a major tourism potential for Ondo kingdom, so we started. “There is a mountain that is bounding us to the North East of the farm, we constructed 580 steps to the top of that mountain, so you don’t need to go to Idanre hills to go and climb mountain, Idanre is 680, there is 580 in Ondo city, in Igbado here.
“We also started with a nine hole golf course, butwehavesinceexpandeditto18holestandardinternational golf coursepresenthere, atabletennis court, a basketball court, we have six artificial dams, one of which we are using for water sports, there we have created a jetty, so there will be skiing, kayak, we have a lot of water sports thatwillbeintroduced tothejetty and we have a swimming pool arcade, there is a spa, there is a sauna, there isasteamroomandahydromassage in the swimming pool arcade.
“Wealsohaveanamusementpark where children can play, in the resort wearetryingtoencouragefamily value, we have a standard gymnasium both for cardio, weight lifting, a very complete gym. “We have a 64 room hotel under construction, aBokaracingtrack, it’s a car track. “WediscoveredthatinOndoState, mostof thebottlewaterwedrinkare brought in from Lagos, so we have takenthebullbythehorns, so, onthis facilitywe startedproducing ourown water, we produce the bottle and the water right on this facility. “The other aspect of Nibanola Motherland is the private residential estate, wehavecarvedout200plotsof landwhichwewillbesellingtomembers of the public to develop their private homes, our attraction will be for those who desire to live decently and quietly in a resort and hopefully when they build their houses which will be controlled development with infrastructure.” Tourism practitioner’s view Also speaking at the event which was attended by frontline traditional rulers in the state, top government functionariesinthestate, federaland Lagos, a tourism practitioner and chairman, Lacapine Tropicana, Wale Akinboboye, said though Ajibayo started with agriculture, he brought the mother of it all, tourism to sit on top of it.
“So, what we have here now is what we call agro tourism, tourism weaved around attraction, a lot of people talk about attraction, attraction is just attraction until you weave something around that attraction, it is not a destination, when it becomes a destination that is when the trickledown effect of that attractions is realised in terms of economic benefit to the people. “What the doctor, a lawyer, an entrepreneur and politician has achieved here is transforming an attraction into a destination, when I walk around here I see sports tourism, I see adventure tourism, I see agriculturetourism, Iseeentertainment tourism, Iseeallformsof tourism, he didn’t mention fishing, because you have a location here where you can fish, you catch your fish and they will roast it for you, for those of you that have never caught a fish before in your life, this is the easiest place to catch a fish.
“Alotof uskeepourmoneyinthe bank, we are happy to know we have X amount of money, what does that add to humanity, it’s a piece of paper, what will add to humanity is what you are looking at here, the jobs that it will create, the opportunities that it willcreate, thelivesthatwillbeturned around, the people that will come from different parts of the world to mix and mingle with our people, the juniorpeople, the Europeansthat will flyfromdifferentpartsof theworldto hike, to do kayaki, all kinds of sports, all kinds of possibilities are here, this platform is built for tomorrow’s people.”
A monarch’s impression
Whilecommendingtheinitiative, theOsemaweof OndoKingdom, His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr) VictorAdesimbo Kiladejo, said, “What we are celebrating today is not a surprise to thoseof usthatareindigenesof Ondo kingdom, because we all know your father, a special man, papa, despite his wealth, despite everything that hehad, heneverhadanotheraddress outside Ondo kingdom.
“There is nothing much to say again, many people have spoken, is it the agro tourism centre, where we have everything, there is nothing you want you won’t find, we have the farm, averybigone, wehavethegolf course and many others, but in addition to that he is also talking about havingrealestate, goingintohospitality, at the end of the day, this is just a one stop facility, that we call tourism center.
“This is something that gladdens the heart of all of us in the kingdom, because some years back, we celebrated the 500 years anniversary of the existence of this kingdom, it was during the celebration that the idea of having Ondo city was conceived and you cannot talk of a functional city without talking of facilities like this. Hon. Dr. AdeyeyeIwanttothank you for this. “Besidethejoyof havingthiskind of facility, one other thing that is of importance to meisthe employment of ourteemingyouths, soIalsothank you for this.”
Ex-speaker’s commendation
Commending his former colleague for the innovation, former Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji said, “I recognise Nibanlola Motherland as the very first private agro tourism resort in Nigeria. “The two people behind this inspiring and beautiful project, Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye and Prof. (Mrs) Olufunke Adeyeye are people of accomplishment, they are people that the society should give honour and recognition. “I have had the privilege of working with Dr Ajibayo Adeyeye for almosttwodecadesnow, thefirstmajor contact was at the Lagos State House of Assembly, where he served as the MajorityLeaderof thebiggestHouse of AssemblyinNigeria, afterthatwe also spent four years together at the Universityof Lagos, reading lawfrom the tail endof ourtenure in the House of Assembly. “Without doubt, this couple are a shining and an inspiring example worthy of our collective respect and admiration in terms of their collective service to humanity. They have beenverydedicatedandcompassionate physicians and have provided invaluable care and treatment to those in need, always putting the needs of their patients ahead of all others.
Fallout
“‘Jibayo’s foray into politics is to further serve humanity in a different capacity, his political decisions hasbeenaboldstepandhehasbeena powerful voiceresonating acrossour localandnationalgovernment, Ican say it without fear of contradiction thattheheighttheLagosStateHouse of Assembly attained, the contributionsof AjibayoAdeyeyewillremain indelible mark. “Today we are here to commissionthiswonderfulprojectandI don’t want to take too much of your time, he has already told us what the project is all about, I am a well-travelled person and I am yet to remember a projectof thistypeanywhereelse, except here in Ondo, congratulations,” Ikuforiji said.