The captain of Ibom Icon Hotel golf course in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Hon. Usenobong Akpabio has said golf just as other sports unites Nigerians saying nobody remembers religion or tribe while playing golf. In an interview during the tournament organised by the Daily Trust, Akpabio said golf has turned around the fortunes of Akwa Ibom state through sports tourism. He also highlighted the benefits of playing golf from a young age.
Can you give us a brief history about this golf course?
It was Le Meridien before and it was opened in 2004. This place was built by the former governor, Obong Victor Attah. The government has been maintaining this place since then. Originally this place was meant to be a resort. Akwa Ibom is not a transit state and there was the need to create something and trap people here and in doing that, the former governor created this place. Also, to bring in investors, there was need to create a comfortable place for them to stay.
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Running a golf course of this magnitude will cost a lot of money, so how have you been able to maintain this course?
Maintaining a course is enormous and the membership subscription can’t maintain it. In fact, it doesn’t reside with us but with the hotel who are the managers of the facility. We are thankful to the government for maintaining it directly and we are just here to ensure the maintenance company is doing the right thing.
As members, we do our own little part to keep it up and running, just simple things without waiting for the government pending when our membership base is large enough. It costs nothing less than N20m to maintain this facility.
As the current captain of this club, what efforts are being made by you to take golf to the grassroots and discover new talents?
Occasionally, we organize mini academies for the young ones. We are not playing golf professionally but for leisure, exercise and maybe for purposes of interaction. There are benefits for them to start when they are young and we have started doing it from the primary schools during the holidays.
We train them so that they can fully get into golf without disrupting their academic programmes. Every holiday we organize academies so that in 10 years to come, that child will break into the professional cadre and we have a place that is not too busy like IBB Golf course or Ikoyi Club.
What are the actual benefits of golf for the young ones?
They have the option of taking it up professionally but if they don’t, golf will still expose them to a large network and contacts, it makes you to be bold to take decisions, it gives you challenges and golf teaches you to overcome them. On the course, there is no way you won’t communicate with your partners and at that point, there is no religion, tribe on the course. Golf teaches one to communicate. Personally, golf has taught me to be calm and take decisions under pressure.
How can we manage and develop sports tourism in Nigeria?
Sports is big business and it’s something that unites Nigeria. Regardless of the tribe, culture, language or religion, sports bring Nigerians together. Sports brings people together and looking at this resort, just because of this competition, the hotel is fully booked. Beyond the hotel, the neigbourhood, the state feels the impact. The caddies get paid and there is generally economic boom. That’s the power of sports and in this case, golf.
As far as Akwa Ibom State is concerned, golf is no longer a potential but a reality as there is a lot the state has tapped from golf. Golf has really promoted tourism as far Akwa Ibom state is concerned.
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