What has been your major focus since you assumed office, sir?
My major focus apart from performing my statutory roles has been in the area of partnership, trying to bring in as many private investors into the business because prior to now the development of tourism in Delta State has mainly been a government priority and its dwindling funds and all that, it became imperative that even from trying to propagate culture and all that, we cannot depend on government. Because of my background in the private sector, my first desire was to try and make sure that every programme I had to do here had private sector participation. In the process of doing all of that, we expanded it and found what we were looking for. It started small with small enquiry and it later blossomed into a full-fledged relationship, which has resulted in our present partnership; so, that has been our major focus and because of the intention for job creation, it becomes even more imperative to keep looking for more investors. As I speak to you now, we are looking at concessioning the entire Convention Centre with a view to not just improving the facilities because to improve the facility is one thing, to now get people to use the facility is another. I had the privilege of visiting South Africa recently; in the process of attending an exhibition, I found out the space was so well utilized. We posed the question if the investors would be interested and they were interested and to my greatest surprise, about two weeks after my trip, they sent people here. They came through Benin and today we are talking and they are going to be here for another one month. They are going to be here with more of their people to take actual measurement of the entire grounds. In fact, I am hoping that over time they would keep expanding; in fact, they actually wanted to partner us in building a cultural centre. You know we own a land that is next to the Cenotaph and one of the things that I wanted to pursue during my tenure is to have a space that integrates every arm of culture and tourism -a land where tourism board would be, the art council would be, the administrative offices would be, a place where the cultural centre would also be for performances and have a shopping complex just like what you have in the museum in Lagos , the one near City Hall , a lively space. So, I wanted our gyms to have that place not just the office of the tourism ministry but to be the real focal point of activities in Asaba, a place that never goes to bed; that’s the idea. Even if we don’t achieve that, maybe the coming administration will achieve that. So, that has been the main aim of getting the investors here because with the investors money, we can do a whole lot more than the government can commission.
How difficult has this been?
It’s been very difficult because the nature of tourism itself depends on the functionality of every other arm of government; so, it is only when there is complete oiling of the system; when education is working, when infrastructure is working, when health is working, when works is working, when housing and environment and when all other things are working. All of these elements have to keep coming together. So, for most times you wait apart from the direct development of the areas that nature has endowed you with or some of the very special things that we have been able to create like the Lander Brothers Anchorage,decoration or ornamentation of city roundabouts and museums and all of that for the other parts; we actually depend on how government is functioning. So, it is difficult because fund is a challenge and over and above everything else, security has been in the front burner of this country now in the last ten or so years in different areas. If it is not Boko Haram, it is agitation for the control of the oil well, piracy, militancy and so on. Nigeria has constantly grown since 9/11. We have been growing by the time the Xmas Bomber Nigerian boy was seen or caught with a device that could not detonate. Our tourism alert level rose to be at the same level with Pakistan. So, travel advisory is not in our favour in any way. I will give you an example; when we started discussions with Scarner Pfm, the first time that their expatriates came, the Asaba airport was not working then. I received them in Benin. I had to go to the army headquarters in Warri and the governor gave me clearance. So, I took some soldiers. I had police men just to be able to bring five of them to Warri. It was the demand of our visitors. The travel advisory was that they should not come. The luck I had was that I had a set of stubborn people that were also rugged; they wanted the sense of adventure. After we shipped them to Warri, we went around and they spent about eight days and they left. When they got back, one of them sent me the travel advisory that came when he had left that he should not near Nigeria that if he must come apart from Abuja and Lagos, he is not safe but he was now laughing and saying to them ‘thank you very much but I have gone and come back’. It is not all of them that would take that risk. I will give you an example of what you suffer with security. The people who were supposed to build Warri Convention Centre; one of the times they came was when there was bombing in Warri during the Vanguard Lectures. We know that it is not a Delta thing, it is a national problem but when security is threatened anywhere, the first thing that suffers is movement, not just movement of foreigners to your country but internal movement. I do not know how you would love a posting to Borno State.Each time you are talking about Nigeria and tourism, I know what we suffer. The opposition you get is how will this work? You throw it back at their faces because you are talking with investors in South Africa and they are telling me how unsafe Nigeria is and I am telling them everybody that comes to your country is robbed between the airport and his hotel. The question arises: is South Africa safer than Nigeria? That is the kind of argument you are constantly faced with. You give examples of Israel, Egypt and the Middle East that is dependent on tourism and that has not stopped tourists going to those places but once it is a developing country, everybody wants to make a mountain out of a mole hill. So, these are the challenges, they are such that once there is any major thing in or in your state, it tends to affect anything that has to do with tourism. But the comfort is that we have also come to a point where it is clear to everybody that we cannot keep relying on oil. There is a dire need to diversify; that is why the Delta State beyond Oil initiative should be commended. The major challenges have been funding and security issues.
Despite your efforts and its cultural and natural endowments, it would appear Delta State has been unable to project itself as the preferred tourist destination in the country.
I do not agree with you in the sense you have posed the question. For one, that of Cross River State, it is a deliberate state policy to pursue a state without oil that had started during the regime of ex-Governor Donald Duke. So, all policies are geared towards that area. What we have done here in the last six years is to redirect the efforts of government into diversification and so it is aimed purely at tourism alone. But in spite of not having done that in the sense of Cross River State, you will still find we are indeed a destination of choice in the area of conferencing in Asaba because there is relative peace and conducive environment. If you talk about an environment that has been enabled, Asaba has been enabled that is why people draw comparism. When you leave Edo State and enter Delta State, you will see a remarkable difference in terms of the layout of the town and when you cross into Onitsha, you see a remarkable difference. So, it is like an oasis smack in the middle of the desert. It just keeps drawing people to it and with the establishment of the airport, it has become a hub. Maybe we have not projected it in that sense like the Cross Rivers has done. I agree with you that perception is reality. But we are beginning to break that perception gradually. It is not something the Culture Ministry can achieve as an arm of government but the entire government in terms of policies. Delta beyond Oil has just become the present focus; we have graduated beyond our 3-Point Agenda naturally into the Delta beyond Oil, which is a bigger platform. It will come to fruition; we are incubating the Oleri Water Park , Ogwashi-Uku Wildlife Park. When they are functional, we will get to that point where we want to get to. The important thing is, are we laying certain foundation? Yes, we are. In the fullness of time, we will see come to public light.
How significant is the Supreme Court judgment in the case between Lagos State and the Nigeria Tourism and Development Commission (NTDC)? How will it impact on revenues accruable to Delta?
First and foremost, we do not get a lot of receipts in terms of collection from hotel registration from this part of the country because of our population. Sometimes when people compare Lagos and Delta, it is an unfair comparison, you are comparing 18 million people in a city that has been developed many decades unlike Delta State created 22 years ago. Having said that, what that judgment does is that every of our receipt is retained, boosting our IGR and being a conferencing centre, more hotels are being planned. In answering your question, part of what I did not mention is that before now we have been growing hospitality business at a small level but we have reached out to the bigger brands and so the branded hotels are coming; Hilton with development at very advanced stage, Best Western Deluxe are coming, there is a Protea in Warri but Protea is coming to Asaba. We are in discussion with some brands that I am not at liberty to divulge; so, all of those are part of it. When all of that comes in, whatever collection we make will be for us as a state as opposed to the time when 50 per cent goes to the Federal Government.
How do you respond to critics who say the Oleri Leisure Resort may not get the required patronage and as such will not be a commercial success?
People are entitled to their opinions; criticisms are welcome. The reason I am optimistic is that we have done our research, the investors have done their research, and the demographics are there. It is like saying will Shoprite work in Asaba? Before now, the first show I was going to do in Asaba –the first made-in-Warri show, we were very scared because you can stand in the middle of Ogboegonogo market, and you look right and left and the entire Asaba is before you. I feared where the people who will attend the show will come from. With pounding hearts, we went ahead and did the publicity and the show was to start at 7.00pm.I remember I took Ali Baba, Basket Mouth and the others to pay a courtesy call on the Deputy Governor. We were at the Deputy Governor’s place at 4.00pm, but I got a call that we must come right because the hall was too full. I could not believe it because the entire venue was jam-packed. That was how we started doing concerts in Asaba and today everyone wants to do shows in Asaba. There is a tendency for people to look at everything that has to do with government as being grandiose. What is the essence of a tourist attraction if it is not in its grandest form. A leisure resort in the Niger Delta with people with highly disposable income that is bordered by Bayelsa, Rivers, Edo even Lagos states, I do not see how anyone will doubt that people will come. A family of five can go with N1000. The way the investors have calibrated the entire project at its worst receipt of 25 per cent patronage, they will still be in business. Do you know how long it took Disney Europe to break even? It took it 10 years. And guess where the receipts came from? Nigeria. People will come if the attractions are there. People confuse the facts, it is not government money. That is why they label it grandiose. How can tourism be anything less than grandiose? How can you build anything that will not take your breath away? Which is what is about to happen at Oleri Leisure Resort. People are even saying will it be ready before 2015, but why should the project all be ready be 2015,it is not a project that is tied to the lifespan of the Uduaghan administration. It is a private sector project with government’s role clearly defined. If critics know what it takes to develop a theme park, they will know it is too late to pull out because too much has been committed to it already by the investors.
How did you manage to pull this project through, because it is truly grand. What did you tell investors despite the advisory reports on security situations in the country?
Nigeria has the numbers. You will use the success of MTN to prove to them that Nigeria is the place to do business despite the crime rate, poor infrastructure and all the other negatives but today we are responsible for 20 per cent of their entire income worldwide. Once we got Governor Uduaghan’s backing, the rest was easy.
