Tourism, insecurity and Nigerian economy

By Samuel Oluwole Ogundele

There is no doubt that Nigeria is a storehouse of ecological and cultural resources suitable for engendering world-class tourism development. The ecological resources include the Erin Ijesa Waterfalls in Osun State; Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ekiti State; Obudu Mountain Resort in Cross River State; Yankari National Park in Bauchi State; Borgu Game Reserve in Niger State; Zoological Garden, University of Ibadan, Oyo State and Port-Harcourt Tourist Beach in Rivers State.

The country was also voluminous in scientific and technical productions in antiquity.  This development can be understood against the backdrop of the famous discoveries in Igbo-Ukwu, Anambra State; glass beads in Ile-Ife; Orile-Owu fortifications in Osun State; earthworks of Old Oyo and Taruga ancient iron metallurgical site in Kaduna State.  This is in addition, to the Birni Ngazargamu ancient settlement site in Yobe State.  Ethnographic tourism resources include the Bida brass working centre, blacksmithing industry in Awka  and the dyeing pits in Kano with a date of about 16th century A.D.  There are also several state and national museums in different parts of Nigeria.  They include the U.K. Bello gallery in Minna, national museums in Jos, Maiduguri, Lagos, Benin-City, Umuahia, Oron, Owo, Ile-Ife and Ibadan.

However, many of the fundamentals of modern museum and tourism in general are yet to be sufficiently and sophisticatedly articulated by those in charge and by extension, the government.  Museum as an aspect of tourism involves recreation, leisure activity, expenditure of money, and a variety of service businesses related to travel.  Leisure behaviour is a sub-component of humanity tied to the apron strings of life satisfaction.   Tourism entails accommodation, feeding, transportation, safety/security and social engineering critical to sustainability.

Tourism is capable of improving Nigeria’s national economy.  Indeed, some countries around the world depend heavily on tourism for generating foreign exchange revenues.  Thus, for example, tourism is the third largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Kenya.  It (tourism) follows agricultural production and manufacturing industries.  Tourist flows increased tremendously in Kenya when the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) took over political power from Kenyan African National Union (KANU) which had been in charge since 1960.  This was as a result of the efforts of the former to reduce insecurity to the barest minimum.  Therefore, Nigeria needs to learn from this.  Tourism can never blossom in the face of insecurity and decayed infrastructural facilities.

Currently, Nigeria is not tourism-friendly as a result of the fact, that kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers and ritualists are holding sway over the landscape.  Domestic or international tourism is not a suicide mission.  Most tourists will not be eager to go to a place or places where human lives are on a par with those of cattle.  Nigeria is now a country where cattle leisurely roam on the dilapidated expressways (death traps). Thus, for example, a group of cattle caused a motor accident on December 29, 2019 on the Ilesa-Ife road in the southwest.  One or two passengers died as a result of the accident, while many sustained injuries. The ruminants that caused the accident were still roaming freely within the bushy island of the expressway almost two hours after!  What kind of country is Nigeria?  It seems to me that demons all over West Africa have migrated to Nigeria where anything (no matter how ugly) goes.

Again, tourists are also seriously afraid of herdsmen and a few local collaborators who in most cases, double as kidnappers or bandits.  They carry AK-47 rifles about because nobody can touch them.  Ise/Emure axis of Ekiti State is now under a virtual state of siege.  Anybody travelling on the Nigerian road today, is being forced by the government to willy-nilly become a prayer warrior.  The story is even more frightening in other parts of the country.  The newly created security outfit christened “Amotekun” in the southwest is a good concept. Thumbs up for the governors and other key stakeholders.

This must be sustained at all costs.  Most tourists are afraid to visit such places as the Idanre hilltop settlement site and Ikogosi Warm Springs due to fears and insecurities.  This scenario adversely affects internally generated revenues at the state level.  The northern political class needs to engage in mass education programme.  The uneducated, young northerners (popularly called “almajiris”) are a security threat to the entire country.  Without thoroughly addressing these problems, tourism development is going to remain a wild goose chase.

Therefore, the Honourable Minister of Culture, Tourism and Information – Alhaji Lai Mohammed does not need to be establishing new museums whether community-based or otherwise.  Although he had told other participants during the World Tourism Organisation conference in Japan recently that he would build community museums in Nigeria, a rethink is critical.  Have we been maintaining properly the existing ones?  Rural tourism is a good idea because apart from establishing museums, there are many archaeological sites with enormous touristic value located in rural Nigeria.  But how can tourists be ready to visit such places?  Our current security challenges are too serious to be glossed over by the stakeholders.  This is not the right time to be establishing new museums.  For whom?

Apart from the fundamental issue of insecurity, there is a dearth of competent conservators to restore and preserve cultural artifacts in the various museums and cultural centres.  Without high calibre conservators and technicians, sustainable museum development becomes a ruse.  This underscores the reason why manpower development/training is central to robust tourism.  Government should pay more attention to training of tourism staff instead of proliferating cultural centres without the right personnel to drive growth and development.

The federal government has to be told that tourism is a complex engagement which needs thorough planning.  Again, there is need for creating a databank on tourism and to be updating it in order to pave the way for comparative analyses.  That is to say, that it (a databank) is critical to the making of projections or rigorous planning for tourism development.  Up to now, there are no reliable databases at the state and federal levels.  Tourism is not an unserious business.  It is both qualitative and quantitative in character.  This is a global reality.

We cannot afford, especially at this critical point in time, to be spending the taxpayers’ monies on museum projects that may be a world away from sustainability in the long run.  Artifacts in the museum are like human beings and other living things.  They need a proper environment otherwise these cultural resources or artifacts will gradually “die”.

Nigeria has lost many valuable artifacts especially wooden objects as a result of poor museum environment.  Appropriate museum environment includes relative humidity and temperature.  Again, these environmental conditions vary from one artifact type to another.  How do we achieve an equilibrium in the museum environment or cultural centre without competent technicians/conservators, adequate funding and financial discipline?  Regular training of staff such as festival managers and tour guides is sacrosanct.  The current reductionist thinking is at variance with robust, sustainable tourism development, largely because it puts the cart before the horse.

• Ogundele is of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.