Everywhere in the world, commerce and industrialisation pull infrastructure and potentially more government attentions, and as such, sustain the reason for the pull factor.
Sadly, over the years, Ikotun, the location of the Synagogue Church of Nations [SCOAN], has pulled different business interests, from small to medium scale hospitality businesses that provide services for the millions of visitors to this part of Lagos State for religious purposes.
According to information on its website about the formation of the church, it says that the physical structure of The SCOAN has gone through different stages, and that every stage served a purpose.
The information provided therein noted that before moving to its present location, the church has had three previous sites. The roof of the first church was blown off by a storm; the second church was washed away by flood, while the third church also collapsed due to severe weather conditions.
The website also noted that many years ago, a small gathering of eight members came together to hold their first meeting in a humble shelter in a squalid, swampy jungle, in the location of Agodo-Egbe in Lagos.
Although the physical structure of the church has changed, the vision remains the same according to the founder Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua has continually said whenever this writer is privileged to speak with him one on one; just as he preaches regularly.
This writer who first visited the church in September of 2000 as an undercover reporter, to have first hand information about what it was like, has also witnessed the dramatic changes and transformation that has occurred till date.
Unfortunately, what has not changed was the presence of government in this location. In fact, the condition of the road networks has not improved much despite the commercial and transformation that the church has brought to Ikotun, Ejigbo, Igando and Idimu among others.
What is incomprehensible is the silence of the Lagos State Government that has not deemed it fit to fix these roads that serve Lagosians, and several millions of people that come from within and abroad for weekly service at the church.
To many, it seems the officials of the state may have forgotten that SCOAN is the only one of its kind in Lagos State that pull such unprecedented crowd week-in-week-out as the rest are located in neigbouring state.
Many tourism practitioners feel that the outgoing executive in the state is insincere and lacks the zeal and will to deliberately promote tourism, except the individual officials’ agenda.
In four years, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture had two commissioners with the first removed from the cabinet, the current one came with his personal agenda, and was concerned with his entertainment project in which the state government budgeted several millions annually for his own interest.
The Lagos State Tourism Summit that was held last year was to usher in a road map to the potentially vibrant tourism industry in the state, which sadly was dead on arrival because nothing has ever been done since.
Despite the huge sums of money paid to Ernst & Young, to produce a tourism master plan for the state, those in charge have gone silent with just two weeks to the end of this administration.
Like the Bible says, “by their fruit we shall know them”, it’s not surprising that the outgoing regime did nothing to help ameliorate the infrastructure problems.
However, the incoming administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu must take tourism seriously. With well over 3,000 hotels across the state, and providing more jobs than any other sector, serious minded individuals must be selected to lead the relevant ministry going forward.
Apart from the fact that the sector has grown geometrically in the last four years, the travel and tourism industry is facing so many uncertainty. Under the outgoing administration, the quality of hotels has nosed-dived.
Around the SCOAN alone, the number of hotels have tripled and largely unmonitored and unregulated. These hotels provide accommodation to the many thousand of visitors that troop to worship at the church weekly.
Truth be told, it’s the job of the Lagos State relevant agency to monitor and regulate their operations to ensure that they comply with minimum industry standards, which has never been the case over the years.
Again, any infrastructure provided by the state will serve the tax paying people of Lagos, just as the many visitors coming into the country and to Ikotun by extension because of the church, contributes immensely to the commerce of the state.
To us in the tourism industry, Synagogue Church is the only attraction that has put Nigeria in the world’s tourism map and from all indications, it would continue for unforeseeable future.
Any facility provided by the state at Ikotun, would not serve the Synagogue Church members alone, but the entire communities at large because the altitude of government suggests whatever done for Ikot