Nigeria’s President urged to re-enact Presidential Council on Tourism

Nigeria’s President, Mohammadu Buhari has been called upon to re-enact the Presidential Council on Tourism, PCT, bringing eight ministries together under the Chairmanship of the President to foster tourism development in the growth of the Nigerian economy.

The call was made by the President, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria, FTAN, Mr. Nkereuwem Onung at the National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Mr. Onung said the contributions of tourism to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the nation are immense; therefore tourism deserves a ministry of its own.

“And that is why we are still calling for a conversation. It is time for us to sit together; it is the lowest hanging fruit for the development of our economy, tourism is it,” he said.

He called on the Nigerian Government to key into the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, agenda of “building the Africa we want”. 

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Ifeoma Anyanwutaku lauded the summit, noting that tourism and transportation are two important parts of a whole.

She said that government needs to “provide policy framework that would encourage private investors in the right mix with regulatory framework to ensure good return on investments and also create effective forward and backward linkages in our economy”.

She added that there must be partnership between public authorities and commercial transport providers, to ensure that the needs of tourism are well understood and adequately catered for.

On foreign collaborations, the Ambassador of Venezuela to Nigeria, Ambassador David Nieves Caraballo said that the Venezuelan government was ready to partner with Nigeria in the area of direct flight from Caracas to Lagos.

Speaking on the theme of the summit, ‘African Continental Free Trade Area: Strengthening Connectivity, Effects and Partnerships’, the President of the National Institute of Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, ITPN, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo said that tourism and transport summit is aimed towards getting Nigeria and Nigerians to maximize the benefits of the AfCFTA.

“It is therefore the wish of ITPN, as organizers of the Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo, that Nigeria and Nigerian people maximally benefit from the AfCFTA regime in all facets of Human endeavours  to achieve the socio-economic, industrialization as well as technological breakthrough that we all yearned for, with tourism and transportation as crucial areas of focuss,” he said

The summit featured papers deliveries on the collaborations of key relevant gatekeepers in the implementation of the AfCFTA, Tourism, Transportation and Intra-Africa Trade opportunities for private business.

It also featured keynote addresses from relevant agencies involved in the making of a smooth implementation of the partnership of the tourism and transport sectors  in the country.

The summit will continue on the 26th of April 2022 with exhibitions, more papers are to be delivered, induction of new members, an award session and a gala night.

Confidence Okwuchi