Ojo Mercy
The Theatre and Film Arts 400 level students recently visited the Assop water falls led by Prof. John Illah as part of their assessment for the course, Theatre and Society.
Prof. Illah commended the place as ‘a good tourist area’ but beckons the Plateau State Tourism Corporation (PSTC) to help preserve the place because the structures are ‘not in good taste’.
He also stressed that tourism is ‘a soft point for revenue generation and not only oil because it creates jobs, opportunities and wealth’.
In a document handed over to the students by the tourism personnel of the Assop Waterfalls, it tells about its history and according to it, the waterfalls geographically emanated as a result of the movement of the continent having lots of weathering features which include disintegration as well as biological features. The resort, which was discovered in 1967 when the then Federal Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources directed each and every state to conserve and reserve one third of its total land mass for the protection of flora and fauna (that is land and animals of that region). The project was given to a Botanist in person of Dr. Skyes, a then lecturer at the University of Ibadan.
The document reads that the resort was later handed over to the Plateau State Government under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry who handed it over to the PSTC in 1986 and in 1988, it was released to Kingtali Resorts but in September, 2007, the government of Baba Jonah David Jang revoked the contract an handed it back to the PSTC.
The source of the water is a stream which is found beneath the rock of Tahus Ganawuri junction, 16 km away from the Assop Waterfalls.
Amongst the spectacular sights that were spotted by the students were two trees bearing no leaves in its branches in this rainy season which some students said it was something to appreciate nature.
