Oyo State Commissioner for Information and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, has said the tourism sector has grown by 147 per cent in the last seven years.
He spoke in Ibadan at the inauguration of a top-class hotel, Euro Lounge and Suites.
The commissioner said a new dawn had begun, adding that the state was recording foreign direct investments and massive growth, particularly in the hospitality and tourism sector, among others.
On April 28, one of Nigeria’s leading international luxury bus operators, ABC Transport Plc will be 25. Its Managing Director, Mr. Frank Nnaji speaks with CHINYERE ELIZABETH OKOROAFOR on his challenges, why he is operating on the West African Coast, the potential for stimulating tourism in the Southeast, travel insurance and attractions of night travels, among others.
As the pioneer of the second generation of transporters in the Southeast, what is the motivating factor behind your business model?
Transportation provides for effective interaction for social and commercial connections. It is a very important component of human activities, despite the growth in technology. Before ABC came on board in 1993, a lot was taken for granted by people travelling. What we did was to change the narrative through improving the way we travel. We achieved this by placing more emphasis on safety and comfort. Truly speaking, we can say that transportation in Nigeria can be divided into two segments: the days before ABC and the ABC days. Some of the present generations don’t know what people encountered travelling in the 90s. Now, there is a new revolution, which we initiated. Nobody will expect anything less with our standards. Other companies are beginning to improve in terms of standards and we led this revolution in the 1990s.
What model did you adopt to achieve this, or you simply wanted to change the face of road transport in the country?
I am an entrepreneur who searches for better ways of doing things and creating values. The concepts I introduced were as a result of disappointments, that I had during travelling. Therefore, over time, we thought of how to improve the seeming challenges faced and add value. The belief was that if we add value, we will create more markets. Transportation was not my first business. I was into supply of educational materials for a company known as Rapido.
Transportation business came later with ABC and it blossomed. People caught up with the industry and it became a big business. When we opened the West Africa Coast route in 2004, something spectacular happened and many people didn’t realise that it wasn’t as easy to move from Nigeria to Ghana. It was difficult crossing the border and harmonising things. But, we were able to open up the gateway across the West Coast to encourage tourism across the axis. Incidentally, this has favoured Ghana than Nigeria because more people go to Ghana for tourism than from any other countries in the West Coast.
Therefore, it took quite a lot of work to unlock the West Coast gateway using the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). Also, the work was facilitated by the Economic Community of WestAfrica States (ECOWAS) Secretariat. In fact, we had to carry everybody along to open up that corridor.
By April 28, ABC will be 25. What has kept the company going?
First,what has kept us going is that we set out to create value and we are doing something we are interested in. We didn’t get into transportation to make money. Therefore, when you aredoing something that you have particular interest in, you seem to drive it better.
For me, it was fun that I was developing things that people were appreciating, so that kept me going. Also, remember that I said that our focus is comfort and safety.
We have continued to work at achieving safety and comfort in our service delivery, and this is aimed at making people patronise us. We have also brought in a lot of innovations, such as seat spacing, better safety appreciation, on board insurance, entertainment and others.
How can the government key into this to promote tourism?
For you to promote tourism, it has to be a deliberate effort. It does not happen by accident.The government has to get people who understand this sector through engagement and think of how to develop it. Tourism development has to be prepared for, it is not something you rush into. For instance, in Owerri, there are many hotels, but just having hotels is one thing,the other thing is having things that will make it attractive to people and encourage them to visit the city. For the government to promote tourism, it needs to set up a clear-cut blueprint on what it wants to achieve.
How critical is road transportation to tourism growth?
First of all, if you take a sector that is informal and try to make it formal, it becomes a bit easy for everybody. What you will realise is that if you want to go from Nigeria to Kenya, you go through six borders (from Nigeria into Benin, Benin to Togo, Togo to Ghana). There are bottlenecks. From Lagos to Accra is like from Lagos to Onitsha in terms of distance, therefore you realise that the challenges are just at the borders. Now, the question is: how do you remove these bottlenecks? First of all, you have to consider if the Immigration officers across the Benin, Ghana and Togo borders understand what the ECOWAS Treaty for free movement provides and the truth is that they don’t.
This was why we went there to unlock the axis by first going to the ECOWAS Secretariat to pick the treaty, which makes all the countries in West Africa one mega country for free movement for trade (ECOWAS trade liberalisation scheme). At a point we had to get a letter from the Secretariat to the tourism unit of Lome and Accra to let them know that for this corridor, this is the way it is supposed to run.
Again, we had to address the issue of language barrier by recruiting bilingual crew members. If you come to ABC, you will find that they speak English and French. So, getting into the borders and communicating was easy. We do quite a lot of things to ensure that there is hitch-free trade and movement. And over time immigration officers learnt that when people go through the border they are not doing them any favour because it is provided in the ECOWAS Treaty.
What are the challenges ?
The government has not repaired the roads the way they ought to be. We have not been able to get the best with road development, especially when you merge it with population growth.Therefore, our roads are still below par and this exposes people to risk of accidents, damage to vehicle. In Nigeria, there are lots of harassments on the road with police checkpoints for no reason. If you move from Lagos to Owerri, you will encounter more than 15 police checkpoints.
One thing about modern travel is that it has to be predictable. If you are going from one location to another, the time you specify for such trip should be it. You realise that the many checkpoints, the bad roads are a fall out of the security situations in the country. Another challenge is the appreciation of the average Nigerian as to what the importance of tourism is. Many people don’t understand the importance of tourism. For instance in Ghana, when they decided that they wanted to develop their tourism, everybody was carried along.
There is a need to encourage people and invite them to be part of tourism development in the country, by creating things that will make them come, people will not come. Many countries are thriving best on tourism.
Is night travelling still attractive?
When we started operation in the 90s, we realised that the volume of traffic at night was as high as 30 percent. There was a time night travel was booming. There was also a time we introduced the sleeper service. We had our super sleeper and executive sleeper.There was a climber seat where you can sleep in the bus. We stopped at the Benin transit and people were served coffee. Then, security was assured until the late 2000 when armed robbers started to attack buses on the highway. At present, we still do night travels, but it is skeletal. We use night travel for the delivery of mails. But, generally, night travel is the bench mark even among airline operators. Before now, the roads were better and the traffic was not very high. What has happened is that traffic has increased and the road development cannot cope with the pace of traffic. Therefore, road development supposed to be going at the same rate with population growth and traffic development. Generally, we have not done well as a country, especially in the transportation sector.
Has ABC incurred any major loss to claims from travel insurance?
We ensure that whatever you pay for our ticket, there is a component of it that comes to personal insurance against injury or any fatality and the vehicle itself. When we talk about accident or fatality, it doesn’t really has to be your fault at times.Transportation in Nigeria has become very informal and has become an all-comers affair.
The standards are not maintained. In some other climes, you have to go through protocols,understand the rules and meet certain standards. Overtime, we have done a lotof advocacy in the sector, we look good and the other operators don’t look good, there is no way there will development. So, we advocated what is known as road transport standardisation scheme, whereby any operator that has a fleet of five vehicles is regarded as a fleet operator. Then certain standards are set for the person to operate. We also led the setting up of speed limit of vehicles. We were instrumental to the setting of Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
What is the potential for stimulating tourism in this axis?
As I said, the development of tourism is adeliberate effortand it is not going to happen by accident. Onour part asindividuals, the much we can do is advocacy. There are different regulations and rules, which only the government can do. If there is a site,there should be a government who can take ownership that site, develop it and engage thecommunity.
For instance, we have a blue lake known as the Oguta Lake. It used to be a beautiful lake, you realise that it has been neglected. The government has to put money in infrastructure. There should be a travel bureau that will hire knowledgeable hands in the sector to carry along the people.
In most of the hotels, the problem is not the building, but the number of staff. If you attract people, they would like to stay and the standard would be upgraded. So, you find that if you have a tourism bureau to take care of these things, you make a calendar that will make people come to your city and build facilities that can hold large conferences. Luckily, we have an airport, and also it is as if we are in a confluence.In terms of positioning, Owerri is well-positioned. Talking about what we do to promote tourism, Imo State has the least to do. What we can do at this stage is advocacy.
The government must have aspecific goal to develop tourism and I think it is something to consider very seriously as job creation will make the city more popular.
When Orville Wright took the first powered airplane on a 12 seconds flight on that misty morning on December 17, 1903, little did he know that the little hop off the slopes of the hill at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.A. was actually a giant leap that changed the world forever.
Technology emerged 300 years ago transforming travel from the horse drawn stage coach to the steam engine trains and at the same time an evolution replaced sailing ships with steam powered liners. These new contraptions certainly made Christopher Columbus green with envy. Travel however still entailed days in the unknown and had to be propelled by compelling demands. Much of the activity was migratory but trade had become a significant factor which unfortunately included the infamous slave trade. Transportation over the years became an economic denominator.
Then came the invention of the internal combustion engine and the emergence of the automobile. Commuting became an activity both for work, leisure or any other pursuit, but the capacity to move people in great numbers over great distances remained a challenge. With the power from the petrol engine, two self-taught engineers took four years with personal sacrifice, great commitment and surmounting several failures to redefine the way the world will travel. The little hop above the plains of Kitty Hawk became a revolution in transportation that redefined tourism. Aviation was now to evolve into a major driver of global tourism.
Aviation, outside promoting a country and stimulating interest in it, has evolved into a major driver of economic growth. This is evident when airlines operate what is popularly known as ‘spoke and wheel operational strategy’’. Under this strategy, the airlines fly into a consolidation airport which becomes a hub and distributes flights using multiple aircraft to the final destination of the passengers.
These hubs become new centres of growth and evolve into destinations in themselves. This is the model along which Dubai has emerged as a global leader in business by the direct consequence of its aviation policy. With time businesses relocate to the hub and businesses can attain a larger and more cost effective regional catchment.
This model is under development in Addis Ababa and Lome. Senegal has just opened a new international airport and could use the model to transform Dakar into a West African Hub controlling businesses from South America, North America and Europe. With the addition of a strong national carrier to be based in Dakar, the economic multipliers will be legion and Senegal may become the leading Country in ECOWAS. Business tourism drives domestic tourism for the former leads to an expansion of accommodation capacity which creates an economy of scale to have well priced bed-nights.
The combination of thriving business tourism and leisure tourism creates massive employment opportunities which translate to economic stability. These will be appropriate stimuli to drive domestic production. The mobilization of the populace in gainful employment forms the rudiments of sustained economic stability. The nucleus can be traced to a booming aviation sector which within its orbit has a prosperous value chain.
Tourism is one of the biggest industries in the world. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), tourism supports 284 million jobs globally and contributed 9.8% of GDP (USD 7.2 trillion) in 2015. Out of the 62.7 million jobs supported by the global aviation industry, over 36 million of these are aviation enabled jobs connected to tourism industry. In terms of economic activity, over $892 billion, out of the total of 2.7 trillion USD supported by aviation is related to tourism. With 54% of all international tourists travelling to their destinations by air, it is easy to appreciate how vital aviation is to tourism.
Aviation is more pronounced at regional levels. In Africa for instance, 5.8 million of the aviation-enabled jobs of 6.8 million, are related to tourism. For small island states, the figure stands at 1.2 million of the total 1.4 million jobs. The Maldives relies on the aviation – related tourism to support 42% of its economic output, Seychelles 19% and Cape Verde 15%.
Preservation of eco-systems historical and heritage sites and monuments are key facilitator of tourism. These sites have encouraged religious tourism to countries like Israel, Saudi Arabia, France, Spain, Turkey, India etc.
Many tourists are attracted to places of historical significance with a legacy of rich cultural heritage. Tourists must first feel protected and are therefore attracted to secure places. Convenient visa regimes facilitate tourism. Many countries are now adopting “visa on arrival” regimes to boost tourism.
One feature of great tourism destinations is that they have friendly, warm welcoming people, people well-disposed to visitors.
To fully integrate the tourism sector with the aviation sector, we must upgrade intermodal transportation infrastructure. A national carrier is therefore inevitable which should be integrated with a well-regulated hospitality and creative industry. Nigerian fashion, movies and Nigerian cuisine, are now familiar across the world. These, if properly regulated, integrated and marketed will immensely add to the tourism value chain.
Finally, we must have a sense of history for without history we will not know our destination. It is trite that if one does not know where he or she is coming from, he or she certainly will not know where he or she is going. We have had no disposition to preserve our history. I was chairman, while in the Senate of a committee incongruously called ‘‘Committee for the Immortalization of Senators’’. Its brief was simply to codify the parliamentary history of our country. My experience was a sad one. I had gone to the old National Assembly in Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos only to see Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s desk as President of the Senate being used by a food vendor. There absolutely was nothing to show whatsoever that the buildings ever housed the National Assembly. That building should be a national monument. Sadly every memory of that the building as such has been completely obliterated and no evidence of its rich historical past.
Meanwhile India and Ghana that we visited in the course of this assignment had preserved the histories of their parliaments. In India for instance there was a simulation of their parliament at independence in 1946 with the parliamentarians of the time cast in wax. At the touch of a button, their contributions at the independence debate come alive in their natural voices. Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s university room is still preserved till this day. What he wore at independence is preserved as was the pen he used at the occasion. In India there is the virtual reality of Mahatma Ghandi in their parliament, which is so vivid you could take a photograph with a live Mahatma Ghandi. Their entire parliamentary history is recorded and displayed in digital format.
In Nigeria, historical sites and monuments are degraded and ignored at best. What have been preserved in Badagry, Calabar, Lokoja, Bida, Benin etc to show their rich contributions to Nigeria and global cultural history? Nothing. What happened to NOK culture, Benin Bronze etc?
Unless and until we realize that our history and our culture are perhaps our greatest tourism assets we will never benefit from our immense tourism potentials.
The Niger Delta Region with its rich ecosystems, mangroves, rivers, tributaries, flora and fauna, rich marine life, its hills and valleys, the world known Obudu cattle Ranch in Cross River, the Afi Monoliths, the region’s rainforest has great potentials for tourism. It is one fast strategy to integrate the region and create a regional economy. The current board of the Niger Delta Development Commission as part of its vision has drawn up strategies to make the Niger Delta a tourism destination.
To achieve this we need to change the narrative of the militancy for which the region has become infamous for and improve the general security of the region. We must move from the militancy of kidnapping and pipeline breaches to a new kind of militancy: militancy for peace and development. As new militants we must be advocates for the peace, security and development of the region that we urgently need.
To support sustainable development of the region beyond oil, a finite resource that will either finish or be rendered less important by technology, the board is setting up a Niger Delta Development Bank. The necessary board approvals have been obtained, a consultant appointed and soon a presentation will be made to the federal government. The bank will ensure the bankability and sustainability of our big thicket projects and ensure that their implementation will not depend on political factors like the life of the board.
To task the creativity of our youth the commission plans to ring the region with fibre optics to facilitate internet speed in the region. Internet speed is today a major consideration for the location of businesses. We believe that this will not only attract existing businesses to the region but also new ones. This should turn the region to our own equivalent of ‘‘Silicon Valley’’ thereby attracting technological tourism, the first technological tourism site in the country.
2018 is here. It is important to take stock of tourism last year and then have an idea of the expectations from the industry this year.
The ultimate aim of industry practitioners is for the country to get to a level where its tourism assets would be developed to the level of attracting both local and in-bound tourists to a reasonable degree that tourism numbers will significantly have effect on the country’s GDP.
The success and failure of the industry are predicated on the activities of both the private and public sectors. At the level of public sector, policies and the provision of infrastructural facilities to help the industry thrive is the key.
Taking that into consideration, it is difficult to say that the country’s industry performed very well last year. There were no serious policy shifts by the government to push the sector forward in 2017. All the major issues that have been highlighted as being important to move the sector forward were not advanced beyond the state they were at the beginning of last year.
The roadmap for tourism development in the country, the National Tourism Master-plan, did not move beyond the point it was in 2016. Tourism policies and their implementation are still at the whims of the directors-general (DG)to formulate and execute based on their understanding.
At he beginning of last year, apex tourism body for the country, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), was running without substantive director general. Two senior workers of the corporation were claiming seniority and as such the right to act as acting director-general. First was Mr. Borniface Eboka to whom the agency was handed over to at the expiration of the tenure of the former DG, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo. Then, on January 22, the supervising ministry, the Ministry of Information and Culture, instructed Mrs. Mariel Rae-Omo to take over as the acting director-general by virtue of being the most senior. Less than two months later, on March 15, another acting director-general, Dr. Paul Adalikwu, came on board. Three DGs in three months in the parastatal. The federal government corrected this anomaly by appointed Mr.Folarin Coker as the substantive DG on April 7 last year.
Folarin Coker in July last year unfolded his tourism roadmap using Tour Nigeria as the signature project to get local buy into tourism by Nigeria. Folarin said he was going to concentrate more to promote domestic tourism. Part of the incentive was to create tour packages that would help the Nigerians visit tour sites.
Although many practitioners see this initiative as laudable, they however believe that the policy should have been better framed with inputs from the private sector. The NTDC, they believe, should enlist the private sector to run with the vision rather the NTDC trying to implement it. Many hope this will come to fruition in 2018.
The tourism development fund, which most countries create to get dedicated funds for the development and marketing their tourism, is still in doldrums in Nigeria.
A few years ago, the government showed its desire to provide visas on arrival for tourists and visitors to Nigeria. There is no clear-cut pronouncement on the implementation. This is among the key issues for tourism in 2018.
For Nigerians seeking to travel out of the country, procuring international passport is still expensive and process is cumbersome. All these are disincentives to tourism in the country.
2017 also saw points of disagreement between the public and private sectors as the private sector umbrella body for tourism industry practitioners, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), kicked against the bill before the National Assembly for the amendment of the laws setting up the Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). The FTAN said there was not adequate consultation with the private sector before the bill was presented.
At the private sector level, for most tourism establishment, especially the hospitality sector, it was cautious optimism. Unlike the years in which they had to battle with Ebola and inflation, 2017 was devoid of such. The occupancy rate of most branded hotels in the country was average, managing to survive with serious improvement.
Just to undercover the rather cautious disposition in the sector, there was little or no activities from the major international branded hospitality outfits in the country. Most were more concerned about managing their properties out of the post-recession era.
However, Nigeria’s biggest tourist attraction, Pastor T.B.Joshua, and the Synagogue Church of All Nation, continued to enjoy huge numbers in terms in terms of inbound tourism arrivals. One advantage that Ikotun has in terms of tourism arrival, is that it is not a seasonal destination. It enjoyed and all year round influx of religious tourists.
High profile visitors, like George Opong Weah, the President-Elect of Liberia, was among thousands who visited the church last year.
2017 was supposed to be the year Nigeria’s much touted visas on arrival was to take off. Despite all the noise, the policy is yet to be implemented.
In 2017, the 12-year-old Abuja Carnival was finally led to rest as it was cancelled by the Federal Government. The carnival which was first held in 2005 to showcase all that is good in Nigerian culture gradually lost steam and deviated from the vision for which it was set up. The crowd disappeared and the initial excitement the festival brought fizzled. It became just an annual routine until it was finally laid to rest.
The private umbrella body for tourism industry , the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN ), elected a new set of executives led by Alhaji Saleh Kareem Rabo.
One of the biggest positive things of the year came in December 16 when the Ethiopian Airlines made history in Nigeria by putting together an all-female crew, led by Captain Amsale Gualu, to fly a Boeing 777-300ER from Bole International Airport to Lagos, Nigeria. It was the first all-female air crew flight in Nigeria.
Captain Gualu talked on the historic flight to Nigeria: “Actually, this is not my first international flight; this is my first African all-women operated flight and I am very privileged to be part of this historical flight. I am very proud to be part of this flight.”
She was quick to dismiss the slight turbulence experience around the Cameroonian airspace. On whether she was apprehensive, she said: “Not at all, that is our day to day experience.”
She also talked about how she became a pilot: “This is my childhood dream to fly. Since I was a child, I always wanted to fly. I wanted to be pilot. I guess I developed my passion for flying from when I was young. Then, my father used to take my sister and I to the airport to see airplanes take off and land. When I was in high school or so, I used to be impressed by pilots’ uniform, I guess that is when my passion for flying developed. And after graduating from the university in Addis Ababa, I joined Ethiopian Airlines as a First Officer, then I went all the way, I flew Fokker 50 and Boeing 767, then I became a captain in 2010 on Dash 50-400. Then as a captain I flew Boeing 767, and then triple seven, plus the latest aircraft.”
On the significance of the flight, she said: “I believe Africa is the future, so we need 50 per cent of the society involved and we need the female touch. As men and women, we have our differences, but regardless of that, anything is possible. Being a woman should never stop us from doing what we want to do.”
At the international level, 2017 saw Africa lose golden opportunity to produce the United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) secretary general. The leading candidate was former Zimbabwe tourism minister, Mr. Walter Mzembi. He got the African Union (AU) endorsement as the official candidate of Africa. He was cruising to a comfortable victory until Seychelles’ tourism minister, Mr. Alain St. Ange, decided to throw his hat into the ring. Africa ended up losing the seat to Europe in a keenly contested election.
The general consensus among industry practitioners was that tourism in Nigeria did not do well last year. They are, however, optimistic it will improve in 2018.
Tourism stakeholders and investors from Africa and other parts of the world will converge on Paris, France, next year for the Prestigious African Awards. The event’s promoter, Funmi Rotiba and a tour ambassador, in this interview with EVELYN OSAGIE, speaks on how Africa can harness its tourism potential and the essence of the event.
State of tourism in the continent
Tourism is an untapped Diamond in Africa. But with good culture policy implementation, tourism promotion by government and stakeholders, and intervention of good tour consultants both handling local tourism packages for both Nigerian and foreigners, we will get it right.
My love for tourism
After a degree in Economics from the Lagos State University (LASU), and a one-year national youth service programme, my quest for a challenging career that will make me outstanding got me into tourism. Further researches made me realise that tourism is largely Africa’s untapped diamond not oil. Thereafter, I got sold on tourism.
Today, tourism is my life. It drives me: I dream tourism. My passion for every aspect of tourism – the cultural aspect, the travelling and events, and meeting people is deep. And my passion increases each passing year. I am, particularly, delighted that I have grown and created jobs for others along the way. It has been a legacy-laying career. I have had the privilege of representing Nigeria at several conferences and seminars within and outside Africa. This is in addition to having organised and handled several state government trips, conference, excursions and large contingent’s travels to the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup.
Challenges encountered
The challenges are based on groups and individuals not understanding why they must patronise travel consultants or buy tour packages The other challenges we constantly faced with include securing visas easily for clients, who genuinely want to travel and return, issues of clients not having the right documentation. .The majority also prefer to buy visa, convincing clients to allow us handle their complete tour package, as it is far cheaper than buying visas, still pose a challenge.
Tourism events
and groups
organised/chaperoned
With a long history in tour and travel management and capacity for co-coordinating and sustaining relationships, we have transformed Special Tour Travels Limited into one of the most companies in the nation’s hospitality sector. In the last 12 years, we have served as tour consultants to a number of countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America. And through hard work and a penchant for results, we have handled great projects. Some of our patrons in recent times include the Oyo State government, the Federal Government (under the SureP programme), multinational companies, and several schools with excursion to the United States of America and Foreign Mission. We have also handled various cultural programmes to South Africa, organised cultural tour to São Paulo, Brazil with the Isese and Ase groups and took two World Cup groups to both South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014. This is besides foreign trade exhibitions and several summits/training and trips that we have helped ministries, departments and agencies to handle across the country.
Over the years, through commitment, creativity and passion for travels and tourism.
Most people are usually surprised that I am quite young and could also communicate very well. They seem to expect an older person to be promoting culture, but culture and tourism promotion does not require age. Another reasonable number of people engage with me on religion, forgetting that culture should be a way of life. The work I am doing with tourism and culture has redefined me and taken across the world, which is one of the potential that the sector has. Being a culture advocate requires that you lead by example, educating our people who misconstrue culture (asa) for spirituality and ritual, including those who love culture but do not know how to draw the lines between it and religion. Our culture is not only our heritage but holds huge economic tourism potentials as I have earlier said.
On the prestigious
African award
The Prestigious African Awards is born out of love for Africa and the immense possibilities of tapping into and developing our true tourism potential. It will hold next year March 15 to 17 in Paris, France . This is a legacy-laying award that will bring together the decision makers, investors, entrepreneurs, royal fathers from across the continent; and foster collaboration between them going forward. It would also present a good ground for cross-fertilisation of ideas with foreign investors.
The event shall, among other things, feature a cultural exhibition, an official Hall of Fame, an Imperial beauty pageant and an African Royalty presentation – an interactive session for participants. We wanted a common and fair ground where each country to speak about what they want to do and how they want to develop their potential, especially in terms of attracting both foreigners and Africans back to their root. And Paris was the place of choice because of the cultural theme and as a common ground. It is a lovely and bubbling city, hosting many Africans. So, we chose Paris.
•As sponsors queue up for One Lagos Fiesta
The drive by the Lagos State Government to create a private sector driven tourism economy has earned the full confidence of multinational companies, notable entrepreneurs’ business owners and managers alike across the State.
This was the general consensus at a stakeholders review meeting held with sponsors of the Lagos Street Carnival and the forthcoming end of year eight days One Lagos Fiesta programme to be held across the five divisions of the State.
According to a statement by Mr. Fola Adeyemi, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, the Street Carnival was organised by Heat Limited in conjunction with the Ministry as a private sector driven programme of the State.
He said sponsors and investors are already lining up for the One Lagos Fiesta including, Guaranty Trust Bank, GLOBACOM, Nigeria Breweries Ltd, Pepsi Nigerian Plc, Access Bank, Dangote Nig. Plc, Multi choice, JMG Generators, Eko Atlantic City, Eko Hotels, South Energy X, among others.
Adeyemi said aside the fact that the carnival was a private driven initiative and only backed with institutional support by the State Government, the private sector equally provided funds and support to ensure the success of the programme.
He said the quantum of tourism events in the State has taken an upward leap since 2015 with the emergence of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode Administration and the state policy of project T.H.E.S.E which stands for Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment and Sport for Excellence.
He recalled that expansion of the former Lagos Countdown event into One Lagos Fiesta, a multi-location event with simultaneous concerts across the five administrative divisions of the state and the huge success recorded, till date has further proven to the private sector that Governor Ambode’s statement that the creative industry hold the key to a booming economy in Lagos was fast becoming a reality.
The senator representing Oyo South in the National Assembly, Soji Akanbi, has absolved Nigerians seeking medical tourism abroad from any blame.
He said: “It is due to the inadequacy of medical facilities in the country.”
Akanbi spoke in Ibadan, the state capital, as chairman of the 17th Alumni Day Lecture of Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA), delivered by the Country Director of Technoserve Nigeria, Mr Lary Umunna.
He said: “There is a lot of brain drains among Nigerian doctors due to inadequate medical facilities in the country. As the medical personnel troop out of the country for greener pastures, patients too are following them.
“This has led to medical tourism. You don’t blame these patients for seeking solutions to their health challenges where they could get it.”
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwumni Ambode, has called for the public-private partnership investment in the development of the potential in the tourism sector in the state.
Ambode said this at the 2017 Walk for Nature organized by the Lagos Ministry of Environment in partnership with the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) sponsored by Chevron, Fan Milk, UACN Property Development Company, PZ Cussons, Nestle and some other companies.
The programe tagged Cleaner Lagos: Foundation for Sustainable Ecotourism had thousands of students, corporate bodies, government officials, environmentalists, walk from Marina to the Lagos State Government House Car Park in Victoria-Island, Lagos.
Ambode said the primary aim of his administration with regard to tourism is to create an enabling environment for the growth of the sector and maximize the benefits of tourism for the development of our state by influencing patterns of visitor flows and behaviour.
He noted that both public and private sector activities must shape and serve the needs as well as manage the consequences of holiday, business and other travels in such a manner that the environment which provides the major attraction to visitors, remains protected
He said: “It is our fervent belief that tourism, perhaps more than any other sector, has the potential to aid the socio-economic transformation of our state.
“Tourism is often viewed as the holy grail of biodiversity and tropical forest conservation; if people from the country and around the world are attracted to a location because of its wildlife and natural attributes, the money they spend there should help preserve these resources”.
The Edo State government will remodel the Benin Moat and 58 other tourist sites to boost tourism. This informs part of investment potential in tourism to be unveiled at the coming Alaghodaro Investment summit.
The Benin Moat is the world’s longest man-made earthwork.
The Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Diaspora Affairs, Osaze Osemwegie-Ero, was in a chat with reporters at the Government House in Benin City.
According to him, the government is working towards getting approval of the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II, for the project, expected to be done in partnership with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Osemwegie-Ero, who said the state was ready to work with willing and capable investors on a number of projects, added: “The ministry plans to revive abandoned tourist’s sites, including Captain Philip’ tomb and Oba Ovonramwen’s resting place on Ekehuan Road.”
Other projects, according to him, are the Ososo Hills in Akoko Edo; Crocodile Lake in Lampese in Edo North; Amazon Water Fall in Igueben (where two separate quality of water flow at parallel lines without mixing) and the 15-minutes’ walk along the cave leading to the Somorika or Kukuruku Hills.”
He noted that the maiden Alaghodaro Investment Summit will showcase some of these tourist sites so the state can court capable hands to help in developing critical infrastructure, and expertise to grow its tourism.
His words: “Some of the efforts to recover the moat include excavation and development of green areas, relaxation spots and cable cars around the moat. This will be achieved through the partnership with UNESCO. Some demolition work will be done and we are talking with the Oba to get local buy-in.”
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwumni Ambode has called for public private partnership investment in the development of the potential in the tourism sector in Lagos State.
Ambode said this at the 2017 Walk for Nature organized by the Lagos Ministry of Environment in partnership with the National Conservation Foundation (NCF) with sponsorship from Chevron, Fan Milk, UACN Property Development Company Plc., Fan Milk Plc., PZ Cussons, Nestle Nigeria Plc. and others.
The programe tagged: ‘Cleaner Lagos: the Foundation for Sustainable Ecotourism’, had thousands of students, corporate bodies, government officials, environmentalists, walk from Marina to the Lagos State government house car park in Victoria-Island, Lagos.
Ambode said that the primary aim of his administration with regard to tourism was to create an enabling environment for the growth of the sector and maximize the benefits of tourism for the development of our State by influencing patterns of visitor flows and behaviour.