Ejiofor speaks of Ewulu breadfruit plant marvel, says Delta going digital to boost tourism

 

Engr. Lawrence Ejiofor, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Delta state.

As a way of overcoming restrictions occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic that have stalled activities in most Ministries and Departments, Delta State Governments through the Directorate of Culture and Tourism is thinking outside the box and going digital.

Commissioner for Culture and tourism, Mr. Lawrence Ejiofor, an engineer, said while playing host to journalist of the Indigenous Correspondent Chapel (ICC) of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta State Council in Asaba hinted that the directorate is looking into ways of moving forward like going online.

 

The Commissioner in answer to a question said: “We had planned a carnival to showcase the cultural activities of the people of the state, but we are constrained by the coming of covid-19 pandemic. For now, all those things have been put on hold. But we are looking at others ways of moving forward like going online.

 

“We want to unravel some tourist sites in the state and package stories in a documentary for release online,” he said.

He gave the example of Ewulu community in Aniocha area of the state, which has a river and breadfruit plants.

 

Ejiofor said although the people don’t eat the breadfruit, yet it will interest people to know that even though the breadfruit trees lie facing the river, no leaf from the plants’ tress fall into the river. “It’s a mystery,” he said.

 

For him, packaging such into a documentary will provoke tourists to want to come and see this amazement. He observed that Delta State has a lot of amazing sites that will interest tourists, saying: “Because of the covid-19 pandemic and its limitations, we are trying to go digital; we are trying to turn Delta State into a Dubai. For instance, we are moving Nollywood literally to Delta.”

 

Engr. Ejiofor announced that the Leisure Park on which work is now ongoing will be run by the private sector. Government is only to provide the enabling environment. The same is for the Jabi Boat Club which is to be built by an accomplished expert. “Delta’s equity share is that the state owns the land. But the club would be built and run by the club,” he said.

 

Answering another question, Ejior said that Delta State took part in the National Arts Festival (NAFEST) and won two gold medals in the two main events cuisine and one other, and that over all, Delta came fourth position at the festival.