Oyo state Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde has explained the rationale behind the conversion of Trans Amusement park into a Housing Estate.
Trans Wonderland or Amusement Park which is a few minutes drive from The University of Ibadan was opened on November 29, 1989 during the administration of Colonel Sasaenia Adedeji Oresanya. Attractions at the underutilized theme park include roller coasters, electronic bumper cars, panoramic wheels, ferris wheels, merry-go-round horses, space station, flying chain chairs, dragon boats, funky basket circles and many others.
The governor in a newsletter entitled ” Revisiting Tourism in Oyo state’ said a new modern amusement park will be constructed at the Ilutuntun Business District through a PPP collaboration.
According to him “Since 2019, we put up the Trans-Amusement Park, for private sector investment in keeping with our mantra to ensure that the government gets value from every structure developed before now. The few people who showed interest backed out after they had an opportunity to visit the facility and do proper due diligence.”
“The reason we have received a lack of interest is that the equipment is obsolete and cannot be repaired. It is also more expensive to scrap the equipment and construct a modern amusement park in the same location.”
“We also considered the traffic bottlenecks that would arise if a new, far busier park remained at that location. We, therefore, decided it would be more prudent to utilise the land in this location for a housing project while we use the revenue from this to develop our dear State further.”
“Our plans for tourism under Omituntun 2.0 remain on course. It may not be carried out as some expect because several factors will impact delivery. Still, we will continue to sort out these issues to ensure that we achieve sustainable development through tourism. A new modern amusement park will be constructed at the Ilutuntun Business District through a PPP collaboration.”
On SAfER programme., Gov who admitted that the distribution of safer packages that concern smallholder farmers, youth agropreneurs and small and micro businesses maintained that “we are trying to ensure that we carry out the needed due diligence that will precede the disbursement of funds.”
“As I already mentioned, we are looking to use the Agricultural Credit Corporation of Oyo State (ACCOS) and commercial or microfinance banks for this activity. Once our internal processes are completed, we will be asking eligible persons to register for the relevant SAfER package that they are interested in.
