Tag: Domestic tourism

The just-concluded Lagos International Trade Fair was an opportunity for many corporate bodies and organisations to showcase Nigerian products.  Among the corporate bodies at the fair was the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) headed by Dr. Sally Mbanefo.  In order to showcase wholly Nigerian products that help to promote domestic tourism, NTDC gathered thousands of art works, artefacts, tangible and intangible heritages to drow the attention of the public to the potentials in the sector especially now that culture is being positioned to serve a bigger purpose in the national revenue.  In her ever boisterous response to the issues of domestic tourism and what it portends for the nation, she responded thus:  “Yes, our main mantra in the last three years or so, is to promote domestic tourism.  We believe at the NTDC that we cannot sell Nigeria to foreigners if we don’t start by selling it to Nigerians themselves.  To me, as the DG, this is one of the reasons I’ve been travelling round the country to showcase Nigerian local tourism.  I’ve been meeting with Tourism commissioners, the kings and leaders of different towns and villages to let them know the place of domestic tourism in our national life.  These people are the custodians of our cultural heritages, traditional institutions and customs”, she said.

For her, since these people are held in high esteem not just by their subjects, but by the society as a whole, it is important for NTDC to collaborate with them for more effective promotion of domestic tourism.  Mbanefo said further, “You see, tourism touches every chain.  So, we work with Immigration, we work with taxi drivers and Okada riders and so on.  This is so because a tourist may come and say, see I don’t want to use a plane or a car, I want to use keke.  For the person, it is fun, it is new to him or her.  We therefore tend to inculcate those sets of people into our programmes, in order to make it wholly domestic in outlook.  This is why we are involved more in local exhibitions where and when necessary.  Nigerians are about 160 million or thereabout.  So, we have a big market here at home.  So if we can sell Nigeria to Nigerians, you can see that Nigerians will be proud to patronise what is their own.”

She reasoned, however, that most foreign nations of the world, mostly Americans, love what is their own.  In essence, they try to shun other people’s products and services.  “That is the pride Nigerians need to have; the pride that their culture is the best and it needs to be kept and cherished.  This is one of the reasons for this role we are playing at this Lagos International Trade Fair where we have on display various artefacts and crafts from different local areas in Nigeria.  We have to have pride in the food we eat, in the clothes we wear; indeed in the language we speak.  We cannot throw away our traditional institutions that represent who we are because of the so-called modernity or technology or religion.  We have to preserve our history and all the embellishments thereto so that the ones coming after us will know where they are coming from.  Exhibitions like this, can help to register the impression in the minds of people”.

While this exhibition went on, a lot of school children from different parts of the state visited the NTDC stands.  Along with their teachers, they were taken round the stands by Mrs. Chioma Ibe who is the head of the Lagos office of NTDC.  As the children continuously showed their curiosity about the objects on display, Ibe took her time to explain each item and what it stands for in the history of Nigeria.  Among the collections were Ife bronze and masks, Benin art, the terra cotta cultures and art, Hausa/Fulani fabrics, adire and ankara arts and lots more.

Beyond the relevance of these arts in the lives of the people, Mbanefo explained that she personally takes time out to inculcate this habit in the children.  “We need to explain these things to them now in order for them to begin on time to appreciate their importance in our socio-political history.  This was why last week we did Akwaaba.  Akwaaba is Africa’s largest exhibition in which all the aspects of African arts and tourism materials are on display.  Empowering people and women also forms part of what we do to promote and expand the frontiers of domestic tourism in Nigeria”, she said.

She noted that the tourism sector is booming now because the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed is not only enlightened about what he does, he also does his best to encourage the sector to serve as an alternative to oil.  Mbanefo opined, “he believes that we should sell Nigeria to Nigerians, first and foremost, before doing so to outsiders.  He has really helped us to save our resources.  He also understands the sector very well; he is passionate about tourism and culture and he is ever ready to take it to the highest level.”

She equally has messages of encouragement and hope for all Nigerians.  She said: “First, Nigerians should realise that Nigeria is a work in progress.  This government is working day and night to make sure that  there are improvements in all sectors of the economy.  Secondly, we should not concentrate on the recession or think about it.  Recession has been all over the world before it came here.  There are many opportunities in Nigeria.  Therefore, all we can do is realign, readjust and make corrections.  The third is that we should emulate the president’s hard work, fear of God and sacrifice.  If the president does not have fear of God, he won’t be where he is today.  This is my message to all Nigerians”, she said matter-of-factly.