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By Frank Meke
The just concluded Federation of Tourism Associations ( ftan) non elective Annual General Meeting was ” moderately combustive, convivial and deeply assertive. Truth, yes, the truth of why the industry remained at back waters of national economic discussions and expectations were highlighted in a melodramatic manner, which left me bewildered
to muse if we are actually getting anywhere at all.
Munzali Dantata, ex ftan president, ex nanta president, ex nihotour DG, a lawyer, and chairman All States Travel was confirmed the new Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Federation and he immediately took effective control of proceedings, after the planery on the role of the private sector in the development of tourism in Nigeria. Gani Tarzan Balogun also made the list of new ftan Board of Trustees.
Her excellency, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Botswana to Nigeria, Philda Nani Kereng rocked our tourism boat with clinical precision, challenging us to own our tourism products and offerings, presented and promoted without pretence to our unique cultural tourism and creative originality.
The pretty sagacious and eloquent lady, two months old in Nigeria as representatives of her country and a former tourism minister in Botswana , shared her encounter and experience with Nigerian eba and egusi soup, pepper soup , washed down with palm wine, and told Nigerians, at least those who have never dared to leave their backyards ” born in Nassarawa, grew up in Nassarawa and married in Nassarawa ” to get out their local inertia and become true Nigerians by visiting other parts of the country.
” You can’t sell what you don’t know,” the lead speaker asserted, and you possibly would think she is Nigeria’s minister of tourism and culture. Madam kereng’s expository tourism delivery and deep insight into what possibly hurts the Nigerian tourism sector was profound, and she provided critical road maps that left the top sectorial leaders and association presidents, taking notes and nodded their heads in appreciation and agreement.
I will come back later in the course of this piece to her tourism nuggets to help revive Nigerian tourism , the role of the media and government.
If we had called for a voice vote for a new tourism and culture minister in Nigeria between Madam Philda Nani Kereng of Botswana and our slippery travel mania Minister of Tourism, lola Ade John, there was no doubt who would have won. Lola Ade John was not present, and we didn’t miss her.
To avoid being labelled unpatriotic, I will suggest we ” borrow ” the Botswana High Commissioner for our tourism and culture ministry instead of asking her to change nationality. She is a gift to Africa, Botswana, and I should think that our dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should carefully look into our request to change and remove Lola Ade John and Hannatu Musa Musawa as our ministers of culture and tourism respectively. Nigeria needs Phildatourism!
Nigeria’ s Baba Eto of Epe, lagos and Director General of Nigeria Tourism Development Authority ( NTDA) Folarin Coker was combative. He spoke so much in a few minutes, and like Biblical Saul turned Paul, he confessed that we all had fallen short of our tourism glory, noting ” when everything seems to have failed, we get together to pickup the pieces and move ahead “.
Many attendees felt he spoke in tongues and should have taken responsibility for the shattering Nigerian tourism Humpty Dumpty, and to which he boldly admitted some set backs but sought our understanding to his pet dream of a technology driven tourism future through collaboration and togetherness.
” We didn’t warehouse NTDA laws. It belongs to the private sector as represented by ftan and we can’t do otherwise. We need to pick up the pieces, fine tune it, and allow ftan to drive it, and we shall provide the fuel, ” he explained
Waxing authoritatively philosophical, he touched on the bitter criticism of his seven years administration by the tourism press, noting he took it all in good strides even though it was not palatable.
He took a sniper shot at industry leaders who are in the habit of threatening court actions against the tourism press for doing their jobs instead of looking out for opportunities to share their ideas with them.
” I am happy to see my good friend, Frank Meke here. We are good friends, but for seven years, he stood against me , criticising me at every point. Frank would never let me forget that my tenure ends next year, March 2025, and was relentless, but I never threatened him with court action. There was also a lucky George, but we kept our head. I really don’t understand why an appointee of government would just be pranting around, threatening journalists for doing their jobs, I can’t understand it. Some people are funny!.
If Coker bluntness on tourism issues is troubling, Nkereweum onung, president of ftan, took to mellowing, but critical intervention to set tourism free from various entangling cobwebs which held it down to years of unabated stagancy
” we need good roads, a peaceful and secured environment, a visa regime that is friendly. We want to be at the behest of tourism policy issues and wish to know what are the benefits that a UN Tourism Africa CAF meeting can bring to the private sector in Nigeria after being held back to back here without any known gains. We also need a Presidential Council on Tourism where we can share our ideas with the president on the way forward for the industry. “
Nkereweum Onung ignited an intelligent reassessment of the relationship between the private sector and government agencies, asking what actually happened to the ntda and nihotour laws and their importance to the emergence of a new tourism economy.
Back to madam Philda Nani Kereng, who outlined that there must be a clear integration of various tourism opportunities and values , with offerings that should influence other sectors outside immediate tourism ecosystem to help in the marketing and promotion of tourism businesses.
“The industry and the players must properly position themselves to be wooed and needed. From the private sector partners in the formal economy to the local government, the industry players must influence change, eye small scale entrepreneurs, develop products, and tourism offerings that are saleable and marketable . You must be doing things not talking, ” she admonished.
The media, yes, the importance and role of the media, formed the major parameters to the entire tourism influence ecosystem for the private sector and government to collectively promote tourism. According to Her Excellency, the media provides the pivot to championing the campaign to grow the sector and tell its stories.
” The media is important and healthy to the marketing and promotion of the sector. They must be made to understand what we want to do and help project that influence. The media is an integral part of the tourism ecosystem and not mere observers.” She informed.
I will sum up the panel discussion in one word , a clear trepidation on how the government has used the private sector and dumped the players when it matters most. Moderated by the industry rising star and vice president south south zone of ftan, Mrs justina ovat, the pains of the denied or allegedly freted away palliatives for the sector during the immediate past administration rang out painfully throughout the discussion. Who collected our palliatives? Is it the former minister of tourism or the ministry? The question , however, did not outshine the conviviality among industry big wigs , many who hardly find time to meet outside their jurisdictional environment. Two new industry leaders, Yinka Folami and Hajia Bolaji Mustapha of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies ( Nanta) and National Association of Tour Operators ( Natop) respectively got officially inaugurated to the Umbrella body, representing their associations.. How ftan goes from there should not be left to imagination. Nkereweum Onung has shown that ftan under his watch can engage and influence other sectors outside the tourism ecosystem. Time will, however, tell if it will call out those who are foot dragging on industry goals and future while checking ambitions from outside targeting inside disharmony.