Unperturbed by the economic hardship plaguing the nation, fun seekers in Ibadan, the capital  of Oyo State, still find ample time to unwind and enjoy nightlife in various joints and club houses located in some strategic areas. From Orita-Challenge to Queen Cinema area to Roundabout and Bodija axis, down to Sango, U.I and Ojoo, social activities are always at the peak from around 9.00p.m till the wee hours of the following day.

Night crawlers and club freaks often frequent pubs, brothels and high-profile club houses, depending on their social status, exposures and financial strength, which go a long way in determining where they groove and rock themselves overnight.

Besides, ladies of easy virtues with different shapes and sizes are always at hand to savour the pleasure of the night with men at negotiated prices. However, some female students of tertiary institutions in Ibadan are not left out in the thrills and euphoria as they also storm some club houses to catch their fun.

Customers enjoy varied African and intercontinental delicacies, snacks, fish pepper soup and suya meats with drinks at various fun spots to spice up their night adventures.

In a bid to feel the pulse of the fun seekers and their corporate service providers, including club houses, five star hotels, brothels, pubs and joints, the Nigerian Tribune visited some of these fun spots to catch a glimpse of the socio-economic activities and interact with the stakeholders.

Upwardly mobile guys in the social circles often announce their arrival in their preferred fun spots with their wonder on the wheel automobiles, amidst array of beautiful damsels, which at times keep the mouth of other fun seekers agape.

At Club 0305, situated on Obafemi Awolowo Way, Bodija, Ibadan, fun seekers could be seen having a swell time at the serene environment, where the club is located, gulping exotic wines as the disc jockey blared hip hop music to complement the flavour. The time was around 1.30a.m.

In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, the spokesman of the club, Mr Sola Ross, said “it takes a great deal of commitment, resources and managerial skill to run a club like this in Ibadan. Here, we offer our clientele the best service in the city with state of the art facilities which would make their stay memorable”.

According to him, “finding time to unwind in this kind of lovely environment is a good and efficient therapy, capable of reducing stress of a hectic day and lowers the risk of high blood pressure among the people. A night out, filled with moderate fun, can go a long way to ward off hypertension and other stress related diseases that can cut one’s lifespan short”.

Describing Wednesdays to the weekends as their peak days, Mr Ross identified epileptic electricity supply as one of the challenges facing the hospitality industry in particular and Nigeria as a whole, adding that “government should address the issue of poor electricity in this country squarely.

“The running cost of the diesel we use to power our generator in two days is N42, 000. You can imagine how much it would cost in a month to buy diesel. Invariably, large chunk of the profit will have to be expended on the running cost and overhead. This is quite uneconomical and government should do something positive and drastic on the power generation sector to make life more meaningful for Nigerians”, the Club 0305 spokesman remarked.

Baring his mind to the reporter, Johnson Sekoni, who is a regular customer at the club, stated that a night out in a decent environment was worth it, taking into consideration the need to refresh, unwind and catch some fun after a day’s job.

He continued, “It is crucial for any hardworking guy to find time and enjoy himself because he deserves it. Doing otherwise is a great disservice to oneself. You have only one life to live and there is nothing bad if you maximise all the opportunities to enjoy it to the fullest, provided the means are there”.

Also sharing her experience, Miss Janet Adewoyin, an undergraduate in the University of Ibadan, Ibadan contended that “having fun out here is not a big deal and I see nothing bad in it. You have got to enjoy some pleasures of life. Mind you, I am not here to do ‘runs’ or get hooked to any man. I just came to spoil myself a little because I need it”.

At the 411 Club, which is close to Club 0305 in the same Bodija axis, situation was the same. Fun seekers, lovers and other categories of people milled around the place to groove till day break. With flood lights and other decorative attachments, sweet fragrance of delicious foods filled the air.

Meanwhile, a curious look at the streets that lead to these club houses and other adjacent roads revealed the presence of high class commercial sex workers, posing strategically to showcase their offerings to interested night crawlers.

Contrarily, a visit to the famous Premier Hotel, on top of Mokola Hill, Ibadan presented a sharp difference to the sight and sound of other fun spots in the ancient city of Ibadan, except for the “queens of the night” who dotted the road, which leads to the hotel, waiting anxiously for their potential clients. The hotel’s environment is serene and splendid, devoid of rowdy crowd of fun seekers that besieged other spots in Mokola area.

Similarly, there was a beehive of socio-economic activities at Ekotedo and Queen Cinema area, Ibadan, where the popular Central and Bola Hotels are situated. As of 11.30pm, young commercial sex workers, in their twenties were sighted in skimpy and provocative dresses, in a desperate attempt to lure men passing through the area.

A mild drama ensued when a young man, who walked through the frontage of the ‘red light zones’ of  the Central Hotel Ekotedo, Ibadan, was dragged to the passage of the brothel by one of the prostitutes, compelling him to enter her room, with a promise of a rollicking sexual satisfaction. The unwilling young man refused to yield to the advances of the prostitute, a development which made other prostitutes to make mockery of him.

In an interactive session with the reporter, one of the prostitutes, identified as Blessing Ukoma, from Anambra State, said she ventured into prostitution to raise needed capital, with which she could start a dress boutique.

When asked how many men she could entertain in a day, she replied thus, “It all depends on the business trend. Sometimes, many men will come to this place to have sex and we are many here. Therefore, you have to struggle in a bid to get some of them to come to your room, with a view to having a nice time. But, averagely, I can sleep with about 20 men in a day before I could get tired. It is not an easy thing my brother. Come inside now, let me rock you body and soul.

“To survive in this business is not a child’s play. First, you have to pay a sum of N1, 700 every week for the room you are using and also pay some amount of money to the big Aunty that brings you here on a monthly basis, including the money for security. So, it is very hard here, but we are managing to keep it rolling”, Ukoma asserted.

The Bar Manager at Bola Hotel, Queen Cinema, Mr. Femi Akande, lamented that low patronage had really affected nightlife business, saying that “ sales of beer and other non-alcoholic drinks have dropped in recent times, but we are still trying to stay afloat in the business despite the situation.”

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Welcome to Igbo Ora, The Nation’s Home of Twins 

At the mere mentioning of Taiye or Kehinde in the public place could trigger a simultaneous response from more than four people. In other words, the names, being what twins are called (the former for the one who came first and the latter for the one who followed) in Yoruba land, unusually have more than one claimant in this land.

“If you gather about 200 people, 70 per cent of them is likely to be twins,” Taiwo, twin, told The Nation. “I am a twin and my twin brother’s wife is also a twin and she has a set of twins. My younger sister, Idowu, has two set of twins too but I don’t have twins yet. I believe that my new wife will deliver twins by God’s grace,” he said as he thumped his chest.

Chief Isaac Olurinmade Olapegba [JP],73, described the town as a unique town where God blessed the people with twins and triplets, saying “every time our women deliver babies they always give birth to twins and at times triplets. You can go and ask the medical doctors as the record is there for everyone to see. In fact, people from all walks of life do come here for research.”

Elated, the septuagenarian further told The Nation that the signs that the town is blessed with twins are everywhere. “Go to the entrance of the town and to the roundabout where we have the statue of the mother of twins and her babies on her chest and her back. Delivering twin babies is our industry here. We are the ones producing more twins than any other towns in Nigeria, and that is what our study reveals because of the symbolic reason that we prepare okra leaves as soup more than any other soup,” he said.

He noted further that: “There is no man or woman in this town who does not know how to eat okra soup. We cook the leaves called ewe ilasa (ilasa leaves) more of which we consume than any other soup. If you go to the market on market days, you will see how twins’ mothers carry their twin babies and dance around demanding for money. Hardly will you go to any house without seeing at least a set of twins. In fact, you could see three sets of twins in a house. Therefore, if you are calling Taiye, you need to be specific so that we can know whether it is the senior or junior one, or else all of the twins could rush to you to answer. It is a funny thing and we shall soon have twins fill the town. It is God’s gift; it is just blessing we cannot explain. It is incredible.”

In order to convince this reporter of his claim, the old man took him round the town, visiting about 20 houses where they have a set of twins, triplets, or two sets of twins of different age, similar and different sexes. Again, it is not uncommon to hear that a Taiye or a Kehinde is away to Lagos to buy clothes when asked about their whereabouts. The import of this metaphoric journey is simply that the person in question is dead. In some of the houses visited, such euphemistic rendition was not wanting.

A mother of twins simply called Iya Ibeji (a mother of twins) observed that the nursing of twins is quite hectic, especially at infancy. She said, “Feeding the twins and taking care of them is not easy at infancy, but it only gets better when they are growing up. When they become big men and women, say medical doctors or engineers, one can now be proud of them because they have become big men and women – important personalities in the society. Then you will appreciate them as people will envy them and you would have forgotten the stress you have gone through.”

She spoke on the idiosyncrasies of twins: “Their best foods are beans and corn meal. While growing up, they wear the same clothes and put on the same shoes. The fact is that some mothers die while taking care of them because of the rigour of stress and many other things they undergo while the children are very young. Breast-feeding them is a very tasking for the mother. Hardly does the mother have time for herself. Twins always cry at the same time and fall sick again at the same time, or one after another. And the mother has no choice but to take care of them sometimes to the detriment of her health.”

Similarly, Olapegba revealed that twins, according to the town’s traditional belief, are regarded as special creatures and therefore should be treated like gods. Hear him: “We have our own traditional way of taking care of twins. We buy them the same clothes, shoes, bangles, and do same hairstyles for them. We equally treat them like gods and therefore build a shrine for them in the corner of the living room where we use the items like palm oil, tubers of yam, and dry beans (ekuru) for ritual everyday, especially when one of them is sick or dead. When one of the twins dies, an effigy which will serve as a replacement of the deceased is carved and placed in a corner where some rituals are carried out on it everyday so that the living one is not dragged along to the grave.” According to the town’s spokesperson, this is compulsory, for many twins had been snatched by death just because the rituals were neglected.

In the words of Mrs. Kehinde Sakiratu Kehinde, her mother had three sets of twins and also built shrines for them when they were young. However, her twin brother, Taiwo, died recently and she feels his absence daily. In a quavering voice, she said: “Despite the fact we are not identical and of different sex, I still miss him.” Asked whether she has an effigy of her twin brother on which she pours libation or palm oil on so as to prevent him from taking her away to himself, the woman replied to the contrary, saying, “it was practised in the olden days but things have changed now. It is still practised by the illiterates. Not only this, Christianity has taken away all these things and education has changed many things too. But that does not mean some people are not doing it as some still believe in it. It has become personal belief for many. I cannot blame them over this.”

On why some of the twins’ mothers dance round the town, Kehinde said the mothers of these twins should not be blamed, for many are given the conditions by soothsayers or diviners called babalawo. According to her, twins are considered to be strange people who came to the world of their own and it is believed that they have different spirit that goes with them and that is why they cannot be harmed. She added, “Some of these mothers were informed before the children grow up that they must take them out and must dance round the town or market places or else they would die. I know a wealthy woman who is a trader and sells clothing materials in Lagos. But when her baby twins were falling sick everyday, she was instructed by the oracle to go and dance in the market places before they could recover. She refused and was ashamed to go so low and out of shame did not do it. But she would later regret that as one of the living twins fell sick again and was dying. She later went to the market place to dance.”

Mrs Kafaya Olawale, another mother of twins, was met breastfeeding her baby twins. Her twins, she said, are one year and two months old. She equally agreed breastfeeding a set of twins is a hard work to do. “It is not easy my brother,” she moaned pointing to them and adding, “You can imagine how they both cry for breast at the same time. Besides, they cry a lot if they find out that they are wearing different clothes. It’s like they are spirits, for one would cry if she sees her twin sister wearing clothes different from hers. So, you must wear the same clothes for them or else they will keep on crying and this could lead to sickness for them.”

To Kafaya, the claim that the eating of some special okra leaves also aide the birthing of twins in this town is not a myth. “Yes, it is true. If you want to have baby twins, just go for ilasa leaves. That is the way one can have twins. The leaves are cooked as soup and before you know it you will be pregnant with twins.”

When this reporter got to the market and requested ilasa leaves, the sellers all laughed and asked him whether his wife is aiming to have twins. The surprising thing is that most of the sellers are called Iya Ibeji. Displaying the leaves, one of the women, a mother of twins, declared: “I have three sets of twin and this ilasa leaf is the secret behind it here in this town, nothing else. That is our own industry here and people come here to ask for it even from overseas they do demand for it and take it out.”

Apart from being known for having twins, Igbo Ora is also known to be the sixth largest charcoal-producing town in Oyo State. Igbo Ora derived its name, according to an octogenarian, from verbal challenge posed to a friend. According to him, there were two friends; one lived in the town while the other lived in the forest. The latter occasionally did come to town to pass time there with his friend. He got so used to this that sometime he would not feel like going home. One day, his town-dweller friend asked him to go to the forest he bought (igbo o ra). Ever since, the saying became a household name with which the town is identified.. Those are the boldly written words that a first time visitor to the ancient town of Igbo Ora is bound to see as they course through its main entrance. A little further into the town at the roundabout is a sculpture of a woman, a mother of twins with a baby strapped to her back and another on her chest with a girdle, while the twins raised up their hands in an ecstasy of jubilation.

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“All in all, our costumes are top of the range,” says Yemi Sule, a project consultant for the Lagos Carnival, speaking about the processes and the people that make this carnival the ‘ultimate’ in Nigeria. Sule works with about 250 tailors and embellishers who must produce costumes for at least 10,000 participants who will take part in the carnival on Easter Monday.
“It’s been a nightmare meeting these targets but it’s also been a lot of fun, because on that day when the clothes are worn you’ll see that all the hard work and dedication to duty has paid off in the end. It’s something that one will be proud of,” she says in a room full of young artisans working on multicoloured dresses.

The theme for the carnival this year is ‘Bright and Beautiful’, and a peep into the different working areas inside the Skills Acquisition Centre shows that much. The whole place is stacked with bales of chiffon, taffeta, organza, china, satin, wax print and lace fabrics in various colours.
“What we did go for are bright and striking colours that people would appreciate on the carnival day,” says Sule, who was contracted to do the same job last year. “I’ve seen quite a few costumes that have been used at other carnivals here in Nigeria and abroad; they are nice but I will stand by our own costumes, because they do stand out, in terms of concept and in terms of the quality.”
As of mid-March, 60 percent of the costume work had been done and Sule is optimistic that everything necessary for the carnival will be ready for carnival day on April 30. “I would say that people should come out and have fun. This is a once-in-a-year thing. It’s good to appreciate the beauty around us.”

Carnival buzz
Just a block away, Oji Thomas is busy co-ordinating the production of the headgears, backpacks and sails that will complement the costumes. His target: to produce 2,000 backpacks and 150 huge sails, any of which takes days to make, depending on how simple or elaborate it is. Oji’s work area is packed with carnival photographs, fibre rods and other odds and ends needed for the job.
The previous day, he presented a complete set of backpacks and sails to the organising committee; he got a green light and that means he and his team can go ahead and mass produce for the 80 or so carnival groups ready to feature in this year’s event.
“So far, working on them has been a bit stressful, going by the fact that we have a set time to build everything; but this year, I can say the work is much easier to tackle because we’re making them much lighter, using aluminium pipes and sheets and fibre rods, unlike last year when we used metal pipes which were heavy,” he says.
This new approach to the job is the result of a two-week working visit Oji and seven others paid to Flamboyan, one of the prize-winning groups at the world-famous Notting Hill Carnival, in late 2010. “They practically showed us all their secrets: how to set up the sails, how to balance them, how to do the wings,” Oji recalls. “All of that knowledge we have incorporated into our own stuff here to make them better.”
Nigeria now has four major carnivals, three of which – namely, the Abuja Carnival, CARNIRIV and Calabar Carnival – hold in November and December. The Lagos Carnival stands apart, being hosted in the Easter period. “There is a carnival buzz sweeping the entire world,” Oji says. “Almost everywhere around the globe there is a carnival of one sort or the other at certain times in the year. It is just that Nigeria is picking on it a bit late.”

Engaging local talents
Elsewhere on the premises, another group of young Lagosians are constructing the floats, some to be mounted on tricycles, others on bicycles. Framework for seahorses, butterflies, fish, tortoises, sunflowers, boats and many more litter the place. As in last year’s outing, six puppets (representing individuals who have affected Lagos positively) will be part of this year’s parade, including one for Obafemi Awolowo, Fela and M.K.O. Abiola; and to create the much needed awareness for the event there will be several effigies placed around well-appointed highways in Lagos in the weeks preceding the carnival day.
On the whole, it takes at least six months of sweat and hard work to get the carnival ready for the public but just a few hours in one day to showcase everything. Isn’t that discouraging? “Everything that is good comes to an end at one point or the other,” Oji says, “The joy is that many people will see it and enjoy it. Besides, this is like art, which is meant to be seen; it is absolutely worthless if you hold on to it.”
One person who likes to work with the endpoint in view is Disun Holloway, the organising chairman of the Lagos Carnival. He supervises all carnival activity, committee by committee and from start to end. According to Holloway, reviving the Lagos Carnival in 2011 was the idea of the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), who believes some of the state’s cultural events can be better packaged and marketed to the international community and by so doing attract tourists.
“There is also the economic benefit to the local residents who are directly impacted by this event,” Holloway explains. “We have employed more than 7,000 artisans. You would be pleasantly amazed as to the pool of talents in Lagos.”
And it is that talent that will be on show at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) on 30 April.

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The agreements mean that Protea Hotels and African Pride Hotels will be listed on the agencies’ associated websites, thereby gaining worldwide exposure for all of their establishments across the African continent.

The websites will allow customers to book accommodation with any of Protea’s hotels online. They will also be able to access information related to the hotel chain.

According to Nicholas Barenblatt, group marketing and advertising manager for Protea, the agreements will bode well for the company’s plan to expand further into Africa. “Africa is our stronghold and so expansion has to be done on the continent,“ he said.

Protea already has a presence in eight African countries including Nigeria, Zambia, Namibia and Uganda and is looking to add Angola, Botswana and Mozambique to that list.

Barenblatt further stated the agreements will provide the group with the opportunity to observe how customers engage with the Protea brand in an online environment. Since consumers are more trusting of online portals these days, their task has been made a little easier.

“The agreements we have reached with such diverse global partners are a clear indication that the local hospitality market is both realising its potential and competing equitably on the world stage alongside more established markets,” said Protea sales director Danny Bryer.

Extending Expedia relationship
The first and biggest agreement of the three took place in November 2010 with Expedia, the world’s largest online travel trade company. Protea Hotels and African Pride Hotels are now listed on more than 90 Expedia travel sites.

According to Protea, the group has achieved 100% growth year-on-year with the previous arrangement, and the benefits of the expended deal are apparent after just three months.

Expedia’s global lodging strategic accounts director Christopher Michau said that the agency is pleased to extend its relationship with the South African hotel group.

“Protea Hotels’ footprint in Africa, coupled with their leadership position in the local hospitality industry, makes them a highly desirable partner for Expedia,”

More than 60-million potential travellers visit Expedia’s websites, which are accessible in more than 60 countries and 33 different languages.

Protea will also benefit from Expedia’s experts who can advise the group on online distribution strategies, merchandising and promotions.

Exposure to leisure and business travellers
The most recent agreement – with GTA – will allow tourists to book accommodation with Protea through GTA travel sites worldwide, which will feature more than 120 of the South African hotel group’s properties across the African continent and offer the agency’s global network of leisure and business travellers a range of hotels in Africa to choose from at competitive prices.

GTA has been providing ground travel products and services to role players in the tourism industry for over 30 years. Over 21 000 bookings are made each day for the agency’s 35 000 listed hotels in more than 130 countries. 

Luring Asian travellers
Protea looked to tap into the Asian market by partnering with Asian giants, Agoda.com, in December last year, and now 20 of Protea’s properties are listed on the website. This has also given the company access to Agoda.com’s yield control system propriety software, which allows management to control room inventory, prices, content and promotions.

“This partnership will create more opportunities for Agoda customers to enjoy these popular and unique travel experiences,” said Agoda president Robert Rosenstein.

Some of Protea’s establishments now listed on Agoda include safari lodges at the Kruger National Transfrontier Park and a number of the chic African Pride Hotels in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Steady growth
Now almost 20 years old, the Protea Hotel Group was founded in 1984 with just four properties – two in Cape Town and one each in Johannesburg and on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal – in its portfolio. It didn’t take long before the group was able to offer accommodation for budgets ranging from three to five stars.

Protea is today the largest African hospitality group in terms of numbers of hotels, and operates in eight countries as Protea Hotels and African Pride Hotels, the luxury division of Protea established in 2001. Travellers in South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda are able to choose from over 100 facilities in major cities, game viewing areas, and the countryside.

Besides offering a home away from home, the company is also involved with the community and has made it compulsory for every hotel as well as head and regional offices to have social investment projects. These include a partnership as sponsor with the Reach for a Dream foundation, which helps children with life-threatening illnesses to fulfil special dreams while there’s still time.

Protea also helps in-service trainees with full tuition fees and, said the company, has managed to retain 90% of graduates to date. Protea’s bursary fund is aimed at trainees at other hotel schools around South Africa, and has contributed nearly R2-million (US$290 000) to the cause.

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