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Sunday, 6 December 2015

Nigeria Tourism Ministry: My Ad­ministration would mainstream tour­ism in Nigeria, President Buhari failed promise

In Nige­ria's 55 years of existence, 16 years of continuous democratic experiment, a government on the race to change has done the unthinkable. President Mu­hammadu Buhari and his government have broken our hearts, shattered the dream of a tourism-centric Nigeria.
 
Three months ago, August to be pre­cise, President Buhari "entertained" us with the gratifying news that his ad­ministration would mainstream tour­ism in the change chant, to create jobs and open windows of employment.
 
The President was "smooth" about that promise and many of us who had come to believe his every word, hailed this decision and promise. That prom­ise came crashing last week at the shar­ing of ministerial portfolios and with it, an end to the federal tourism admin­istrative templates, possibly a backlash from global tourism agencies, great loss from international tourism funding, training and retraining interventions; branding dislocations, drop in tour­ism arrival / traffic, diplomatic wrong footings and the projection of Nigeria as an unfriendly and hostile tourism destination.
 
Nigeria, already grappling with her status as a "terrorist haven" via Boko Haram and Niger Delta militancy and toga of "one of the worst places on earth to do business" capped up recent­ly with having the "worst airports" in the world, self destructively through the non- profiling of a tourism minis­try, delisted the nation and our hospi­table people from the global tourism community.
 
That dead weight decision by the President was uncharitable and lacked deep reflections, considering the gains and advantage of forging ahead with tourism business to which every na­tion and people on earth have admit­ted, charts a veritable course for eco­nomic, political and social renewal and sustenance.
Buhari
 
Indeed, I challenge any contrary opinion or view that Nigeria is not ripe or does not have the potential in both natural and human resources that could make fortunes from tour­ism business. I'm saddened at this coup against all that we stand to gain from tourism driven in a holistic, scientif­ic and sustainable manner in which our cultural, environmental, histori­cal and religious offerings are notable world beaters.
 
Admittedly, the President may have been influenced by poor and highly corrupt tourism administrative fall­outs in the past four years, yet such ten­dencies also could be found in sports, transport, works, housing, aviation, power and so forth; but in reality, can­not obliterate the importance of these focal points of economic activities in national development.
My take and position is that the eco­nomic planners and egg heads of the President did not do a thorough job by leaving out tourism in the portfoli­os ranking. For an economy in reces­sion and which we all eagerly wish to rebound to global reckoning, tourism business provides a very cheap plat­form to aggregate and grow jobs, de­velop sustainable mechanism to bridge and harness component advantages in infrastructural creative developments across socio – economic borders.
 
Significantly and to which we do not wish to add or sponsor testimo­nies, tourism remains the key catalyst and oxygen of any progressive content analysis and benefits in rail transporta­tion, power, housing and roads, health, sports, environment, water resourc­es, culture and the many likes. Tour­ism creatively reminds us of who we are and why we are unique and wor­thy to be visited either for business or leisure.
 
Internally, our domestic tourism pro­file is second to none in Africa, with a huge population of 180 million peo­ple and still counting, the hunger and the craving of the young people in our midst to rediscover their country and bridge cultural barriers, lies in the realms of multi-million Naira business with huge sustainable job and employ­ment windows.
To merge Culture with Information is a pedestrian exercise and lacks deep thought expected of a government that rode to power on the chariot of change. It is not too late for the President to reverse himself on this failed promise and right the wrongs on tourism.
 
President Buhari should not be seen to have buried tourism in Nigeria and should, at least, seek the opinion of for­mer President Olusegun Obasanjo who not only created the tourism ministry but also shopped for creative minds such as Franklin Ogbuewu and Segun Runsewe to push his tourism vision and dreams for Nigeria into reality.

These gentlemen and all they did still resonate today so also the unblemished and unembellished fact that Nigeria has a pool of creative tourism man­power to do what the President prom­ised Nigerians during elections: create jobs, restore the good image of Nige­ria and bring the world to do business and enjoy our hospitality in a corrup­tion-free Nigeria.
Despite our little home-grown do­mestic problems, Nigeria with its size, population and potentialities, remains the only attraction for the investing world on the run from the enemies of peace in Europe, America, Asia and the Arab world. Nigeria as a safe tourism haven cannot dance naked in the tour­ism market place. Please Mr. President, give us back our tourism ministry and let us, in very practical terms, show you in weeks, why tourism is your answer to change in employment and jobs cre­ations.


credit:  http://www.authorityngr.com/2015/11/Tourism-Ministry--Buhari-s-failed-promise/

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