 Okay, in case you're just joining us, the program is the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa and we're having a field day. It's a Friday for crying out loud. That means that we're just unwinding and taking things easy. Right after this, we just knock off the suits and everything and just run into wherever we're going to tap into the current of nature as it is. And one of those places recommended will be like a beach. We have beaches all around us, even where we are here. There are so many beaches and all that. But the question is how much do we patronize these kind of places that nature has given to us that will make our bodies respond to nature as it is? And if you feel the breeze in the beach, it's something else. But who am I to talk about this? There's someone who is more knowledgeable about things concerning especially the beach as a place of relaxation and unwinding and all that. I'm talking about the general manager of Atikand Beach Resort and Hotels, Mr. Ogwa Godwin, who has just joined us on the program today. Good morning and welcome to the show. Good morning to you and to you and to me. We like the fact that you are even looking the way you're looking right now. It's very good. It's a weekend look. Yes, a weekend look. Now, we'd like to know, beginning this segment of the show, Beach Going Experience. Tell us about how it's been, if it is growing or going down. What's the experience like? Are people going to the beach more or they're going to the beach less? And what is the reason for that? Well, if I look back back in the days of Babish in the days of Reiki Beach, in the days of Alper Beach, in the days of Aleppo Beach, I would tell you, consciously, that the beach going has reduced. Because it's not like the way it used to be back in the day. And I think the reason for this perhaps is because of the economic situation and maybe the trend that maybe the idea of wanting to unwind at the beach is gradually reducing because of alternatives that people have these days. Back in the day, there weren't much lounge, there weren't much cinemas. You know, just like a one-way shop, who's the one who had a cool time, who's the beach. But now there are a lot of alternatives. So it looks as if, to me, the way it is now, beach going has actually reduced. Sorry, Maureen. You mentioned four or five beaches when you started. But right now, don't you think one of the factors is also because the beaches are even more, there are private beaches right now. In Ajah, already, for instance, we have numerous beaches running up to hundreds, small ones, big ones and all that, that you can find in Ajah. Don't you think because of the number of these beaches, concentration on particular ones may have reduced? I don't particularly think so because looking at the population, the number of people you have, for instance, in Lagos Bay, if nobody have that feeling that we used to have back in the day and the fact that you don't have the candidate places to go to other than, you know, the beach, it's not even enough if I'm the same. It's not enough. If you look at the number of beaches we have in my heart, this for instance, if like two million people come and say, OK, let's go to the beach, it's not enough to be crowded, to be overcrowded. I don't know if you have an idea of how it looked like, you know, the days of bar beach. I don't know if you have an idea of that, but when I was growing up, I tell you, bar beach used to be crowded in such a way that if you were wondering, is it that everybody in Lagos are all here, if you go to Leki Beach back in the day, the whole place used to be overcrowded in the one dream, is it that everybody in Lagos have decided to come to the beach on these weekends? I think basically it's because of the economic empowerment, you know, the Polar Morning Reserve for Entertainment. Was it paid for? Was a bar beach paid for? Like you want to go to the bar beach, did you need to pay money? I wasn't here then, but I was hearing about the bar beach. Everybody wanted to be in Lagos to experience the bar beach, for instance, but was it paid for? Because right now, some beaches, before you enter, you pay through the nose. You're right, though. Those are probably beaches. But then, a bar beach back in the day, you don't pay, you know, it's an open beach. It's corporate, everybody goes, except that you want to take some of those chains that they have then, you have to pay for that. But as far as the accessibility, it was free. All right, well, I experienced bar beach, I experienced Lake Beach, and it was, they were good experiences to have. Would you be in the position to tell us the beach life across Nigeria? Let's not just talk about Lagos. I mean, I know we have, we had the Yank, I don't know if we still have it, I want to believe we do. Yankari Game Reserve in Bochi, we have a beach in Delta, Asaba, we have in Portugal, we have several. Would you say the same fate, the experience in the same fate as Lagos Beach Life is? Or is there any difference? Well, I'm not in the position to know exactly what happens, I mean, all these plans you mentioned, and because I've actually not been there, I've only experienced I have this experience in Lagos. So is there no kind of regulatory organization that monitors the beach, controls the beach owners, or because obviously there are more private beaches now emerging in Lagos, which has seen to the increase in the cost of being able to enter these beaches. I mean, I went to some of them recently to make inquiries and I was, they are beautiful. Yeah, they are. Beautiful, but expensive. And also they come with so much rules that we didn't have in the days of Bar Beach and Lekki Beach. Now you can't go with your food and drinks in some of these beaches, if you have to, they will have to charge you exorbitantly. Is there no organization that's in charge of that? Well, at the moment, there isn't any organization that regulates the activities around the beaches. There's none, there's none at the moment other than the taxes you pay to the state government, you know, consumption tax and all of that. Yeah, I know everybody just like do what they think is good for them. You know, every beach owner just formulates regulations that works for them. For instance, in Vatican Beach, we don't charge people for bringing in food and drinks and we just allow you to bring your stuff and then we just charge you gate fee and perhaps the tents, the cabanas where you want to stay to have your party, you know. But other beaches I hear do charge pocket from bringing in food and drinks into their premises. But we don't. So what I'm trying to say in essence is that every... Oh no. Oh no, we do not need this. Okay, maybe we were trying to say every beach has its own rules. They follow their own rules. Nobody regulates them and I don't know. Mr. Olga, are you there? I would have loved to ask if he would want, if he would suggest some sort of regulation, you know, in that sector because some of the beaches, especially the public ones, the private ones are good, they are clean, they are well kept and that may in one way or the other justify the cost of, you know, entering those places if you would remove the restriction on what you can bring in. You understand, people may not really mind paying to going, but if you wouldn't let me bring in my food and my drinks and your drink is selling for bottle of malt for 1,800 Naira, not many people will be willing to go spend that much money. And most people who go to the beaches, for them it's most times picnic. They want to go with friends and family. And so they want to be able to go with different kinds of food and drinks to their taste. But if you compel them to buy you expensive food there, how many people, I mean not everyone is swimming in millions and billions, you get me? I went to a beach last year. I went to a beach and I wanted to sit down and they told me that to sit on that seat will cost me 4,000 Naira, just to sit. So I was now imagining if I want to buy food or I want to buy a drink, how much was I going to spend to sit on that seat? Somebody will say, okay, you're thinking like a poor man, okay. If I think like a poor man and I'm not poor, what about the other person who actually may not be able to afford it? And because I'm able to pay and I'm paying effortlessly, that person doesn't have the opportunity to even visit nature because of what is obtainable or not obtainable at that time. How do I pay 4,000 Naira to sit on a seat? And then a beer is 3,500 or is it 4,000 that we're charging because it's at the beach. And then if I'm bringing a cooler of rice to the place, I think that we're talking about 30,000 or something to bring that cooler of rice. One kilo, that's one cooler. So if you would need to go in with four coolers, then you pay them 120,000 just to bring your cooler. So are you telling me you just have a Ketra there? Should we just tell me, just tell me one time now. You know another thing that I would have asked because if you notice these private beaches, which are one of the public beach apparently either rented part of his beaches to them or sold part of it, which has reduced the space that these other public ones used to have making the place tight and congested. And also the fact that they can no longer go, not many people can afford these private beaches, now makes traffic to this very public one so much. So much. Mr. Agua, you're back, we're glad that you're back. We're just pondering on some of these things and we're wondering if you can just give us more light. First of all, Maureen was trying to get from you. If you would want some kind of regulation or who wants to be regulated? Or you just want to do your business and mind your business. You don't want anybody to be nosy about what you do. Are you comfortable with the fact that there's no regulatory body for the beaches? Mr. Agua. Are you, to be honest, I think it is better that there should be a kind of regulation. Because as it is now, it looks as if it's an all common thing. And some of these investors just think about profit, profit and profit, you know. It's a long-term investment, it's not a short time. You set up a beach, you don't expect to. Recover your capital in a jiffy. You don't expect that. So it's basically for entertainment. So we need to make those who want to patronize your facility move, make it a little bit pocket-friendly. You know, so if there's a regulation, it will make it much better than it is now. You know, I think it's going to be a welcome idea if there is a regulation. Another thing that the regulation would also bring in is the fact that the public wants to become cleaner, because today they are very dirty. I mean, you go there, see all manner of debris all over the beaches, everywhere, all over the beach. And you begin to ask yourself, who are those, who are the money, does this beach have a manager? As you're going in, definitely you'll be tasked. You know, you pay to enter and all of that and all of that. And then you have all manner of seats and couches there for rent and all of that. Is there no manager to make sure that this place is cleaned up? But that brings the question, is there no internal regulation? Because even bus drivers have associations, petty traders have associations. There is association for snail sellers. There's association for butchers, association for this. I'm sure the beach will have a situation of beach owners or I hope you have. And if you do have, is there no internal kind of regulation that you give to yourself and to meet some kind of standards? Or does everybody just have to do anything, please? And you don't have anybody to hold you? Do you have an association in the first place? Maybe that might come up tomorrow, but as of today, as I speak to you right now, there isn't any association. You know, right here on my axis, the Oaga axis, where we have almost about 10 to 15 beaches, one of the first that came there at that beach was the first private beach in Oaga. After us, a lot of other beaches that I spring in on, I've tried several just to form a WhatsApp platform where we all can chat and have some kind of conversation on common issues that affects us. I'll tell you, up to this moment, nobody is responding. It's more like some of them taking as a competition. Why would they want to tell us what we should do? I think it would be nice if the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism. Waterfront, I mean, tourism comes in. Yeah. We'll recognize these beach business. I think I should establish at this point that plus TV did reach out to the Lagos State government, the ministry in charge, so that we can have a balance and have some answers to some of these problems we have seen. Because another thing that regulation would do is ensure safety of people who go to the beach. You've had people, yeah, there have been people who drowned. Yeah, there are so many beaches without a lifeguard. Yeah. Well, it's just safety at these beaches. When they come in here, you see, Vatican Beach is the only beach that is satisfied by the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism. Trust me on that. We are the only beach. You see, if you set up a beach, there are things that needs to be put in place, like you rightly mentioned, the lifeguard. People go to some beaches and people just get drowned for just no reason. I mean, things that could have been prevented, no lifeguard. Most of them are just interested in collecting the gate fee, collecting money, like you said, money for chairs and tables, collected corkage and all of that. But by and like, the safety of the people that comes there, it's not paramount in their minds. So I think now that the beaches, the private beach business is coming up of age, now people are getting into a mess and you're having more of them coming up. I think it is time that the Lagos State government should get them satisfied. You must have a certificate to operate. It's not an all-comer thing. You must be satisfied. I tell you, we have almost 15 beaches here. The only article has a certificate to operate as a beach. That is just the truth. So at that time, I think the government should begin to look into this because people come to the beach and some of them don't go back home because of joining issues and stuff like that. They just say, assuming that the beach is at the swimmer's risk and all of that, they put off a form of signs there. But they don't have lifeguards. They don't have, like the issue of cleaning you mentioned, if you come to Attitam Beach as I speak to you now, you will hardly find one dead man on my beach because it's composted, that the beach has to be clean, clean, clean, clean. For some of that beach, you don't mind. You just collect gatefeet and the people just go there and all the dead bees, you know, the sea brings deaths every day, all forms of deaths. You just wake up in the morning, you go to the shoreline, you see heaps of dead that the sea has brought in from the river, you know. And then some of them just find that they just see that after the water will take it back. And they leave it there. To me, it's not ideal. So I think regulation is the key that can make things better for each private beach experience for those who want to do it. OK, see? We will definitely, plus TV is definitely going to reach out again to the industry, the relevant ministry in Lagos Day, so that we can see how these problems can be solved, how the regulation can be put into place and safety and cleanliness ensured for Lagos beach lovers. I was just going to ask him, since we are definitely going to do this, what are some of these concerns that if you had the opportunity to talk with the Minister of Tourism or Waterfront or whatever relevant ministry has to collaborate to make sure the beach experience is different? What are some of these concerns that you want to address? What are some of the questions you would have loved to ask so that when we have that opportunity, we also will be better informed with your experience to ask these questions and get the answers that you need? Well, first and foremost, I would then want to add that the Ministry of Tourism, Waterfront, should ensure that for you to set up a beach, a private beach, there must be rules and regulations that guide such operations. That is just the basic thing, I think, is very, very key and necessary. You don't just raise money and buy land by the shoreline and say, I want to set up a beach. There must be conditions that is attached to you being able to set up such a business. As it is now, it's free. It's an all-comerting. The last time the Commissioner for Tourism and the Waterfront came visiting, we raised some questions. And then she said, we were going to look at it. But up until this moment, I'm talking to you. Nothing has been done. I think it's time the government looked this way, this private beach business. I think it's time to look at it. It is time. I think it's time to look at it as possible. Indeed, Legosians who have been... We like to go through... Apart from that, Legos has become synonymous with stress, the traffic and all of that. And so people need avenues to unwind, especially to communicate with nature, such as going to the beaches that we have. So thank you so much for your time. Mr. Ogwa Godwin, thank you very much for being a part of our show this morning. We will visit your beach one day and hope that our throats will not be cut. Plus TV will come there with our crew to unwind. That will be nice, right? Absolutely. Okay. All right. We'll hit you up and then come. All right. We've been talking with Mr. Ogwa Godwin, general manager at Tikam Beach Resort and Hotels, and we'll take a short break. We'll be back in a moment for sports. Stay with us.