By Bolarinwa Ayoola
Governance comes with the responsibility of financing government institutions and operations, protecting lives and property, providing social amenities, delivering education and healthcare, planning development, and implementing policies that improve the overall wellbeing of society.
One of the biggest challenges confronting governments at every level is revenue generation. Governments derive income from various sources, including taxes, profits and dividends from government-owned enterprises, natural-resource royalties, fees and licence charges, borrowing, grants and other forms of assistance.
In Nigeria today, however, financing government responsibilities remains a difficult task. Many states across the federation struggle to generate sufficient internal revenue and consequently remain heavily dependent on allocations from the Federation Account.
The structure of Nigeria’s federal system has created a situation in which the Federal Government controls the collection and distribution of significant revenues derived from natural resources, leaving state governments with a relatively narrow range of conventional revenue sources. Consequently, many states continue to depend on monthly federal allocations to finance their basic responsibilities.
While the Constitution gives the Federal Government control over the ownership and exploitation of petroleum and other federally controlled natural resources, state governments are not without alternatives. It remains the responsibility of state governments to identify, develop and exploit legitimate economic sectors capable of generating sustainable income while creating employment and expanding economic opportunities for their citizens.
Unfortunately, apart from Lagos State, very few of the core Yoruba states have performed exceptionally well in internally generated revenue. This is not necessarily because these states lack economic resources. Rather, it is largely because successive administrations have failed to adequately develop and commercialise many of the economic assets within their jurisdictions.
There are numerous sectors that could be developed to increase state revenues, including transportation, agriculture, manufacturing, technology, research and development, real estate and tourism. Yet many Yoruba state governments continue to depend heavily on relatively narrow sources of revenue such as personal income tax, capital gains tax, business premises fees, licences and other conventional charges.
The problem is not taxation itself. The problem is the failure to develop a broader economic base from which governments can generate sustainable revenue.
The scale of the problem becomes clearer when internally generated revenue figures are examined. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2024 Internally Generated Revenue report, the six states of the South-West generated a combined ₦1.64 trillion in internally generated revenue.
However, Lagos State accounted for more than three-quarters of the regional total, generating approximately ₦1.26 trillion. Ogun State followed at a distant second with approximately ₦194.9 billion, while Oyo generated ₦65.2 billion, Osun ₦54.7 billion, Ekiti ₦35.2 billion and Ondo ₦31.2 billion.
The figures reveal an enormous disparity between Lagos and the other Yoruba states. Lagos has significant comparative advantages arising from its population, commercial activity, financial sector, port, real estate market and status as Nigeria’s economic capital. It would therefore be unrealistic to expect other states to reproduce Lagos’s exact revenue model.
But the lesson from Lagos is not that other states should become Lagos. Rather, all other Yoruba states must be deliberate in identifying, developing and commercialising their economic assets.
This is where tourism presents one of the most obvious opportunities available to Yoruba land.
Yoruba land possesses something that many economies spend billions of dollars attempting to manufacture: tourist attractions, history, culture, spirituality, landscapes and civilisational heritage.
Unlike crude oil, these resources do not have to be extracted from the ground and exported elsewhere before they acquire economic value. They are already here. What is missing is the infrastructure, investment, marketing, institutional planning and political imagination required to transform them into economic assets.
Across the world, tourism has become a major contributor to national and subnational economies. Countries such as the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and South Africa have demonstrated the economic value that can be generated when tourism is treated as an industry rather than merely as entertainment.
In 2024 alone, the United States generated approximately $215 billion from tourism, while Spain generated $106.5 billion, the United Kingdom $82.5 billion, France $77 billion and Italy $58.7 billion.
Africa has also demonstrated the potential. South Africa generated approximately $33.8 billion from tourism in 2024, representing about 8.4 percent of its GDP. Egypt generated approximately $30.3 billion, representing about 8.5 percent of GDP, while tourism accounted for approximately 12.5 percent of Morocco’s GDP, with tourism receipts estimated at about $18.7 billion.
Nigeria, despite its enormous cultural, historical and natural attractions, generated approximately $14.8 billion from tourism in the same year, representing only about 3.9 percent of GDP.
The question that should therefore concern policymakers is simple:
Why is Nigeria capturing so little of the economic value of its tourism potential?
And within Nigeria, an even more important question should be asked:
Why are Yoruba states not doing more to capture the enormous tourism value within their own territories?
Yoruba land has the potential to become one of Nigeria’s most important tourism destinations. The region possesses a combination of historical sites, natural attractions, traditional institutions, festivals, architecture, food, music, art, crafts, mythology, cultural practices and spirituality that could attract domestic and international visitors.
In Ondo State, Idanre Hills provides a spectacular combination of natural landscape and historical heritage. The state’s forests and traditional communities also provide opportunities for eco-tourism, cultural tourism and heritage tourism.
In Ogun State, Olumo Rock is already one of Nigeria’s best-known natural and cultural attractions. Yet the economic possibilities surrounding the site could be much larger if the attraction were integrated into a wider tourism ecosystem involving accommodation, restaurants, cultural performances, museums, crafts, guided tours and other supporting businesses.
In Ile-Ife, the spiritual and civilisational history of the Yoruba offers enormous possibilities for heritage and pilgrimage tourism. Sites associated with Yoruba history and traditions, including the Oranmiyan Staff, can become part of a properly developed historical tourism circuit.
Oyo State possesses another extraordinary opportunity in its historical relationship with the old Oyo civilisation. The remnants and heritage associated with the Old Oyo Empire provide the foundation for a major historical and archaeological tourism destination.
There are also natural attractions scattered throughout the region, including the Suspended Lake in Iseyin, Oyo State; Olumirin Waterfall at Erin-Ijesa in Osun State; Ikogosi Warm and Cold Springs in Ekiti State; sacred forests and cultural landscapes in Ogun; and forest reserves and other natural attractions in Ondo and across Yoruba land.
All of these represent potential tourism assets.
The problem is that these attractions exist largely as isolated sites rather than as components of a properly integrated tourism economy.
The opportunity presented by the numerous tourist destinations in Yoruba land goes beyond physical attractions. Yoruba culture itself is a tourism resource.
The world is increasingly interested in indigenous cultures, ancient civilisations, traditional knowledge, festivals, indigenous architecture, cuisine, music, fashion, art and spirituality.
The annual Osun-Osogbo Festival demonstrates what is possible when Yoruba cultural heritage receives international recognition and organised promotion.
But Osun-Osogbo should not be the beginning and end of Yoruba cultural tourism. There are hundreds of cultural traditions, festivals and historical narratives across Yoruba land that remain largely unknown outside their immediate communities.
These can be documented, preserved, packaged and promoted as tourism products.
Yoruba spirituality also presents an opportunity for carefully managed cultural and pilgrimage tourism. People travel across the world to visit religious and spiritual destinations. Mecca, Jerusalem, Rome, Varanasi and other destinations demonstrate that spirituality can generate enormous tourism ecosystems involving accommodation, transportation, restaurants, guides, cultural experiences, museums, merchandise and other services.
Yoruba spirituality possesses a historical and philosophical depth that can attract people interested in indigenous African religious traditions.
This does not require governments to become religious institutions. Rather, governments can provide the infrastructure, regulatory framework, preservation mechanisms, security and investment environment necessary for cultural and spiritual tourism to develop responsibly.
The mistake Yoruba governments must avoid is believing that tourism development simply means renovating a waterfall, fencing a rock or erecting a signboard at a historical location.
A tourism destination is an ecosystem.
A visitor does not spend money only at the attraction itself. The visitor pays for transportation, accommodation, food, entertainment, guides, souvenirs, photography, local experiences and other services.
A properly developed tourist destination can therefore generate revenue for the government while simultaneously creating opportunities for hotels, restaurants, transport operators, artisans, farmers, entertainers, tour operators, photographers, event organisers and local communities, thereby maximising the real economic value of tourism.
Yoruba state governments should therefore begin to think beyond tourist sites and start building tourism economies.
To harness the economic advantage of tourism assets across Yoruba land, each state should conduct a comprehensive audit of its tourism assets. Every historical site, natural attraction, festival, cultural practice, traditional institution, archaeological location, sacred landscape and potential tourism destination should be identified, documented and classified.
Governments should identify flagship tourism destinations capable of becoming regional and international attractions and provide serious infrastructure investment in good roads, electricity, water, telecommunications, security, sanitation, accommodation, restaurants, visitor centres, museums, parking facilities and digital information systems.
These are fundamental tourism infrastructure.
Additionally, Yoruba states should develop interconnected tourism circuits rather than isolated destinations.
A visitor should be able to travel from Lagos to Abeokuta, Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Oyo, Osogbo, Ikogosi, Idanre and other destinations as part of an organised Yoruba tourism corridor.
Furthermore, Yoruba state governments must be intentional about promoting and marketing Yoruba land internationally.
Tourism cannot depend on people accidentally discovering these locations. Professional destination marketing, documentaries, international travel fairs, digital campaigns, partnerships with airlines and tour operators, and strategic engagement with the Yoruba diaspora should become part of government policy.
Local communities must also be beneficiaries. Tourism development should not mean taking communities out of their heritage. Communities should participate in the ownership, management and economic benefits of tourism projects.
The Yoruba states cannot continue to complain about inadequate federal allocations while ignoring economic resources sitting in plain sight.
Oil is not the only raw material capable of creating wealth.
Tourism, culture, history, heritage, landscapes, festivals, spirituality, architecture, our civilisational story, cuisine, music, art and traditional knowledge are all economic assets.
In order to maximise the potential of these assets, high-level imagination, investment and proper management are required to convert them into economic value. The responsibility therefore lies squarely with the state governments.
Yoruba governors should begin to see tourism not as a ceremonial portfolio reserved for festivals, cultural dances and government photographs, but as a serious economic sector capable of generating revenue, creating employment, attracting investment and stimulating local economies.
The objective must shift from simply increasing the number of tourists visiting Yoruba land to increasing how much economic value each visitor creates within Yoruba land.
If properly developed, tourism can become one of the pillars of a more diversified Yoruba economy and one of the most important alternatives to the chronic dependence on federal allocation.
Yoruba land does not lack resources. What it lacks is the political and economic imagination to fully exploit the resources we already possess.
Tourism may be one of the greatest of those untapped resources.