A Divine Directive, Not A Fickle Affair. A Giver Difficult To Destroy.
By Frank Meke
There are some men you meet in this industry and you wonder, how did he get here, what is he made of, why does he keep giving when others have stopped giving, why does he keep building when others have abandoned the building site, why does he keep smiling when the stones are thrown at him from the very hands he fed, and the only answer that makes sense, the only answer that holds water when you have watched him for thirty years, is that his appearance on the Nigerian tourism and travel space is not a fickle affair but a divine directive, a calling, a mandate from God that he did not choose for himself but that chose him, and that is Nkereuwem Onung.
I have known this man. I have watched him. I have eaten from his table and I have seen others eat from his table and turn around to bite the hand that fed them, and yet he still sets the table again, and again, and again, because that is who he is, a giver, a builder, a man whose businesses were built around his trust and faith in God, not around the greed and noise that have killed many in this industry, and if you want to understand Nigerian tourism, you must first understand Onung, because in many ways, Onung is Nigerian tourism, surviving, struggling, rising, falling, rising again, by the intervention of people like him and by the mercy of God.
He is an investment banker by training, a tourism logistics expert by calling, and a philanthropist by nature, and those three strands, woven together by faith, explain everything about him, for he does not see tourism as just moving people from one place to another, he sees it as moving destinies, moving economies, moving a nation from poverty to prosperity, and he has spent his life, his goodwill, his hard-earned resources, doing just that.
Go to Cross River, go to Calabar, the paradise city, the city that was once the most beautiful city in Nigeria, the city of clean roads, of hospitality, of the famous Carnival Calabar, Africa’s biggest street party, and ask who provided the tourism support services that helped drive that carnival when it was still finding its feet, ask who dotted the once beautiful road networks of Calabar with taxis that were clean, that were reliable, that were on time, ask who made it possible for a tourist landing at Margaret Ekpo International Airport to find a car waiting, a driver smiling, a guide ready, and the answer will be one name, Canan Taxi Service, and behind Canan Taxi Service was RemLord Tours and Car Hire Services, and behind RemLord was Onung, a man who understood, long before many of us did, that tourism is logistics, that without transport there is no tourism, that without a car, a bus, a taxi, a guide, the finest hotel is useless, the finest carnival is empty, the finest beach is lonely, and so he built the logistics, quietly, painstakingly, with his own money, with his own sweat, and he structured it carefully around a community bank offering financial support and services to small and medium sized businesses in the state, because he knew that a driver who cannot access credit cannot maintain his car, that a small hotel that cannot access a loan cannot grow, that a craft seller who cannot access finance cannot stock her shop, and so he did not just build a taxi company, he built an ecosystem, a financial ecosystem for tourism to breathe in Cross River.
And that is why his humanity and his humility set him apart from his peers, for here is a man, a six footer, a giant in size, a giant in spirit, with robust power to change the story of Nigerian tourism, and yet he walks softly, he speaks softly, he listens more than he talks, he gives more than he takes, he remembers the small man, the driver, the guide, the journalist, the student, and that is why to those who respect his values and contributions to the industry, he is an enigma and a ceiling breaker, a man who breaks ceilings not by shouting but by serving, but to his traducers, many who drank and ate at his table of generosity, many who collected his money, his contacts, his introductions, his platforms, and then turned around to call him names in the market square, to them, Nkereuwem Onung is a giver difficult to destroy, because you cannot destroy a man who is not fighting for himself but for God, you cannot destroy a man whose source is not man but heaven, you cannot destroy a man who, when you push him down, gets up, dusts his agbada, smiles, and sets the table again.
A friend of Nigerian cultural tourism media, that is what he is, a known pillar of support and encouragement to the media, investing into the emerging electronic media space when many big men were running away from the media, when many associations were owing journalists, when many practitioners saw the media as an enemy to be avoided, Onung saw the media as a partner to be embraced, and he invested, he supported, he encouraged, he called, he checked, he sent, he gave, not because he wanted a headline, but because he understood that without the media, tourism has no voice, and that is why today, when you mention his name in any newsroom in Lagos, Abuja, Uyo, Calabar, the journalists will tell you, that man is different, that man is our friend.
And then came the appointment that changed everything, not just for him but for Akwa Ibom, when Pastor Umo Eno, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, a man himself who understands tourism as an investor, appointed Onung as Special Honorary Adviser on Culture and Tourism, later Senior Special Adviser, to his government, and suddenly, the man who had built Calabar was now asked to help build Uyo, to help build Akwa Ibom, a state with 129-kilometre Atlantic coastline, with Ibeno Beach, one of the longest sand beaches in West Africa, with the Oron Museum which houses some of Africa’s oldest wood carvings, with Ibom Air, with Ibom Icon Hotel and Golf Resort, with good roads, with peace, with hospitality, and Onung, in his characteristic humility, did not come to Uyo to boast, he came to serve, to consolidate the gains of past leaders, from Obong Attah’s pioneering projects to Governor Udom Emmanuel’s legacy with Ibom Air, and to say, now, under Governor Umo Eno, whom he calls the Experience Governor, we will bring the entire vision to life, we will turn tourism assets into wealth, we will translate infrastructure into enterprise, we will make Akwa Ibom not just a state with infrastructure but a state with experience.
And then there was FTAN, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria, the umbrella body for private sector operators, the body that was almost comatose when he became its president, a body that had lost its voice, lost its members, lost its direction, and Onung, who had already been President of the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators, NATOP, for over eight years, who had steered NATOP from moribund to become the mouthpiece of tourism practitioners in Nigeria, who had been made unanimously Chairman of its Board of Trustees, a position he holds till today, Onung took FTAN on his shoulders, and spent his hard-earned goodwill and financial resources to revive it, and in his first two years in office, he did what many thought impossible, he brought individuals and institutions that left the tourism space back to the fold, he went to Lagos, to Abuja, to Port Harcourt, to Kano, to Enugu, knocking on doors, calling, begging, reconciling, saying come back, the industry needs you, Nigeria needs you, and he worked hard to bridge relationships between the Ministry of Tourism and the agencies, NTDA, NIHOTOUR, NCAC, with the private sector, because he knew that without that bridge, government will be talking to itself and private sector will be talking to itself, and Nigeria will be the loser, and so he became the bridge, the peacemaker, the man of peace, and for two impactful terms, ending on July 31, 2025, he led FTAN with collaboration, with dignity, with results, re-establishing Nigeria’s presence on the global tourism stage, particularly through participation at the World Travel Market in London, and witnessing significant institutional shifts including the brief creation of a stand-alone Ministry of Tourism, a sign that government was beginning to listen again, and when he bowed out, even Otunba Segun Runsewe, the foremost cultural tourism administrator, inaugurated a committee to organise a valedictory party in his honour, because even his peers knew, this man had done well.
And now, in weeks to come, in the days ahead, Nkereuwem Onung will unveil a vehicle to market the emerging tourism space in Akwa Ibom curated as Experience Ibom, a tourist company backed with air-conditioned buses and taxis escorted by trained tour guides, and Experience Ibom Airport and City Lounge like never seen before, a lounge that will welcome a visitor landing at Victor Attah International Airport and say, welcome to Akwa Ibom, we have been waiting for you, sit down, relax, let us take you on a journey, and that journey will be Ibeno Beach, it will be Oron Museum, it will be the Ibom Plaza, it will be the Christmas Village, it will be the food, the Afang soup, the Edikang Ikong, the hospitality, the soul of Akwa Ibom, and this is not just a company, this is a vision, a vision to make Akwa Ibom the preferred gateway to African tourism, a vision that Onung shared on Creative Nigeria on Mainland 98.3 FM, Lagos, when he invited the world to Experience Ibom Tourism Concert, saying our goal is to make the state a preferred gateway to African tourism through the hard work of Governor Umo Eno, and through the hard work of stakeholders who believe that tourism is not just government, tourism is business, tourism is experience.
He is a trustee of industry associations and Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Association of Nigeria Tour Operators, NATOP, which he was once President for over eight years, he is a BOT member of the Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria, ATPN, he is currently Chairman of Nigeria Hospitality and Tourism Sector Skills Council, a role that places him at the intersection of tourism, hospitality and workforce development, where he is calling on stakeholders to embrace AI, data, and new skills, to reposition for the future, to train the tour guide, to train the driver, to train the hotel worker, because he knows that without skills, there is no service, and without service, there is no tourism, and he is the Chairman of REMLORDS Group and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Experience Ibom Ltd, the producer of Tourism Hotspot, a radio show on Comfort 95.1 FM, Uyo, where he tells Akwa Ibomites, turn your tourism assets into wealth, and he is Global Adviser of AITEC World, headlining its global launch at WTM London on November 4, 2026, on the theme Come, Connect, Collaborate, Invest, telling the world, come to Africa, connect with Africa, collaborate with Africa, invest in Africa, and telling them, Akwa Ibom is open, Nigeria is open.
Nkereuwem Onung is indeed a man with a Midas touch as everything he does turns gold, not because he is a magician, but because he touches it with faith, with diligence, with patience, with love, and with God, and a man with one wife and a minister of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, he brings joy wherever he goes or is associated, sometimes seen as a threat by those fearful of his huge size, a six footer and a giant with robust power to change the story of Nigerian tourism sector, but those who know him know, his size is not for intimidation, his size is for protection, for covering, for sheltering those who are small, those who are weak, those who are forgotten, and that is why he is a lover of Nigeria and her people, a visible but noble investor in an industry which has survived merely by the intervention of people like him and by the mercy of God.
So, let me say it again, and let me say it clearly, so that history will record it: Nkereuwem Onung is a tourism enigma, his appearance is not a fickle affair but a divine directive, he is an investment banker who became a tourism logistics expert, a philanthropist who became a president, a minister who became a marketeer, a giver difficult to destroy, a man of peace who revived a comatose federation, a bridge between government and private sector, a friend of the media, a husband of one wife, a father, a servant of God, and a lover of Nigeria.
And as Experience Ibom takes off, as the buses roll, as the taxis move, as the guides speak, as the lounge opens, remember this day, remember this man, remember that when Nigerian tourism was dying, God sent an enigma, and his name is Nkereuwem Onung.
*He must not be distracted. He must be focused. He must finish the work. For Nigeria. For Akwa Ibom. For Africa.This is my testament.
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