A bus direct to Ife from Ojodu-Berger should cost nothing less than a thousand five hundred naira. Prices may vary. The travel cuts across three states, first will be Lagos that you are departing, then entering into Ogun state, then through Ibadan till you get to Osun where you will journey for a short while before getting to Ife.
The journey lasts the period of two and half hours that is
if there are no traffic jams on the road. The route the car will take you
through is the Lagos Ibadan express way then when you get to Ibadan they will
take the Ibadan-Ife road.
On that same road is the Obafemi Awolowo University. It is
the single stand out structure on the road where thousands of undergraduates
and post-graduates come to acquire knowledge. The motto of the university is
‘for learning and culture’ which is quite intriguing and true considering the
well-organized administration of the university and the high required cut-off
marks for each subjects.
I came here by peradventure of the luck of writing the post UTME
examination for admission into the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo. I stayed in the
town for the duration of two days, arrived Friday afternoon and left first
thing in the morning.
My advice for folks who want to visit Ife and need a place
to stay for the duration, they should take a bus to Mayfair in Ife and they
will see enough quality and cheap hotel in that area. Of course bus fee cost
just N40. The range of hotels includes Mayfair hotel, Xela hotel, Hilton hotel
and a lot more.
Ife is a quiet city and traffic flowing unlike the jammed up
roads and houses of Lagos, in Ife everywhere is free and flowing, the
population is not that dense and you can still see people living in ancient
houses but on the bright side it is more quiet, convenient and it will save you
the unnecessary Lagos rush and save your blood pressure. If you are looking for
a quiet city to enjoy your retirement, why not try Ife? You won’t be disappointed
at all.
Also there food stuffs are relatively cheap considering the
fact that most of their goods are transported for us here in Lagos to buy at
higher prices by the hoarding marketers. Banana that you will buy in Lag for
N100 you will get it for just N50.
For akara lovers and lovers of moi-moi, the Lagos variety is
tasteless and impure for the superior Ife made impoverished beans. Also, not
forgetting the numerous farm lands there making vegetable so cheap you would
consider coming here from lag to buy freshly cut vegetables.
Another thing about Ife is there shops don’t open quiet
early as they are not really in a hurry to make money. The place is also
friendly for visitors as the huge statue of the Ife bronze head at the road
about welcomes you to Ife. The people are more friendly to visitors than in
Lagos were you are really on your own, here they try to make you feel welcome
and give you advances on your trip.
There buses are cheap considering the distance; they cost
about N40 per bus stop almost the same as their okada riders. Also
interestingly most of their drivers don’t have bus conductors as you see in
almost every bus in Lagos and I actually got down without paying the fare. No
harm intended, I actually forgot.
Also in Ife is the Oduduwa University which many of you
would have never heard about. Also brace yourself for the occasional poor
network in parts of Ife as telecommunication providers have not really made
their strong presence felt there. This is annoying considering Ife is a popular
town. This is an open challenge to the telecommunication providers’ management
to come and do something quickly about this situation.
The road of Ife will need some upgrading, though the town is
rarely flooded the roads needs to be graded and few bumps here and here and in
no time you will have a pot-hole the size of a pot which will cost
significantly much than it will at this
present stage.
I call on the
governor of Osun state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to look for solution to the
unpaid worker’s owed salaries and cut-down his expensive government and welfare
packages and provide basic amenities like good roads which is the right of
every citizen in the state.
Small impacts like this and you are made a folk figure not
your expensive welfare packages which has now backfired and exposed you to
insults and loss of face which you didn’t anticipate will come. The difference
here is that both are costly but in the long run you don’t have to keep paying
for workers welfare as a good road and clean drainage system will last thirty
years without a major repair.
Back to Ife, I won’t complete my travelogue without running
into the reason why I actually came to Ife, on this note I will talk about the
University of Ile-Ife. The university motto is ‘for learning and culture’ and
it looks everything like the name. From the gate, which actually looks like a
toll gate the rods are well graded and neatly divided with beautiful
horticulture dominating the landscape.
You need a bus to take you into the campus as for close to
twenty minutes all you will be driving on is on the beautiful long road without
seeing any structure till you get to campus bus-stop which gives you an idea of
exactly how large the university really is. I’ve been to the Federal University
of Agriculture (FUNAAB) before and I was impressed, Obafemi Awolowo University wowed
me to speechlessness.
One thing you must notice is all the roads are good and
looks like they have just been graded not long ago, zebra crosses are
predominance on major roads which gives you an overseas feeling. You also can
not miss the surplus sculptures that are littered orderly around the
university. The university is really a hive ‘for learning and culture’.
The university has its own sport complex, a stadium which
can host about 15 thousand people; the university is really a hive for learning
of all sorts. I never got to the end of the university as the more I walked
round, the more the university seems to be getter bigger and bigger and bigger.
I must commend the university management for the successful
organizing of the post-utme screening exercise. We all had information about
our Exam Centre and room and seat number which was given at registration for
the post-UTME. This made seating for the examination easier than the orthodox
way of making students line them then start putting them into sits in an
unorganized manner.
We started at 12p.m, it was to last for an hour fifteen
minutes and they were through to timing, a good point for the administration.
One thing that impressed me is the fact that the question papers and the OMR
sheet where customized with our names, UTME number and seat number, so all we
needed to do was to start shading our answers. Kudos, to the OAU management,
they have really convinced me of the orderliness and sincerity.
Also, another thing was our results were released exactly 24
hours after we finished the exam and this made the University administration
look clean and sincere in their admission processes.
You can decide to go back to Lagos using a cab that will cost
you two thousand naira only, it sounds expensive but considering they only
carry four passengers, three at the back, one at the front, it may be a price
well paid for your convenience or you can take a cab to Ibadan costing six
hundred naira only then you get to Ibadan and take a N500 bus to Lagos.
Enjoy your stay in Ife, the ancestral home of the Yoruba’s.
Please be sure to visit these places, the Ife museum where crafts and crafts of
bronze works dating back to , also visit the Ooni palace “ILE Oduduwa” the home
of Oduduwa and the Ooni of Ife, considering the fact they are near each other
, also visit the Agbonniregun Temple in Oke-Itase Street, also see the famous
Oranmiyan Staff you read only in books
and folklore at the Mopa Area, Aarubidi, also see the Zoological Garden and the
Natural History Museum Obafemi Awolowo University Campus, the Oluorogbo Temple
Ilode Street, the Igbo-Olokun Shrine,
Ilode Street, Oduduwa Shrine and Grove, Ido Area, Oduduwa Street, Baba
Sigidi Burst Baba Sigidi Compound, Iremo and Igi-Nla (Mysterious Tree) Oke-Oora,
Mokuro, Ile-Ife.
Also see Moremi shrine, Oduduwa statue near the Oni’s
palace, Ogun Laadin shrine where Oduduwa is said to have descending from heaven
with a chain on his hands , also visit Ila Nla where the Ooni addresses his
subjects
Your tour is just about to begin.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity.
 |
Former Ooni of Ife |
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