Olota of Otta, Akinboboye, Olowo, others charge govt on tourism to accelerate development
Photo captions
L-R: President La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye; The Olota of Otta Kingdom, Ogun State, Oba Prof. Adeyemi Obalanlege; President, Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET), Andrew Iro Okungbowa, and former President, ANJET, Tope Ogbeni Awe at the annual tourism seminar 2019 “Tourism and Jobs: Better future for all” in Lagos…yesterday
Stakeholders and operators of Nigerian tourism sector have charged government at all levels in the country to focus more on tourism in order to achieve accelerated development of the country as the oil wealth is fast dwindling.
The call was made yesterday in Lagos during the tourism seminar organised by the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET).
Speaking at the seminar with the theme : “Tourism and Jobs: Better future for all”, the Olota of Otta, Ogun State, Oba Adeyemi Obalanlege, who was the Royal Father of the day took the lead in making the call when he urged the government and Nigerians to explore tourism potential for job creation.
Obalanlege said that Nigerians must stop depending on the government for job creation but get creative to groom most of the enormous tourism potential the country is endowed with.
He said that festivals in each community could be developed by members of such communities to generate revenue while ensuring that the festivals were developed over the years to attract local and International tourists.
He identified the Egungun Masqurade Festival as one of the tourism potential to latch upon, likewise the monumental buildings across communities which could be converted to tourists sites.
” With the huge tourism potential we are blessed with in the country, we should not be complaining about lack of jobs, individuals must be creative and tap into these tourism potential.
The Egungun Festival is an opportunity to latch on by the unemployed, different communities have their masqurade which should be developed and showcased to the world.
” Nigerians need not look up to the government for job creation, government is only meant to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
” The second tallest story building in Nigeria is in Otta, it should be better developed to attract international tourists; a lot more monumental buildings across communities can also be converted to tourists sites,” he said.
Earlier, Dr Gbenga Olowo, managing director, Sabre Network, West Africa, urged government to take the tourism industry seriously by providing sufficient budgetary allocation for the sector.
Olowo who was represented by Mr Mayowa Badewa, deputy zonal director, Western Zone, Sabre Travel Network, said that the tourism industry must be prioritised as huge employment opportunities could be derived from the sector.
He said other African countries like: Ethiopia, Kenya, Gambia were doing well in tourism because they had been able to work on improved connectivity, good infrastructures, visa relaxation policy and more.
He, however, urged Nigerian government to collaborate with the private sector, intensify efforts in fighting security and terrorism, create policy for ease of doing business, good and safe roads for tourism businesses to thrive in Nigeria.
” We are known to be the giant of Africa, and Nigeria is not recorded in the list of the top 10 visited countries in Africa because we are not doing things correctly.
” Government should try to allocate huge revenue for the tourism industry annually because the returns will be in multiples at the end of the day.
” There are only two hanging lakes in the world, the one at Colorado, United States of America and the Ado Awaye hanging lake in Oyo which is not well marketed for international recognition.
” The one in Colorado generates over a million visitors annually, we must let the world know what we have and encourage them to visit,” he said.
Also speaking, the President of La Campagne Tropicana Beach Resort in Lagos, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, declared that the power of tourism sector in transforming a community, people and the country, is such that it cant be neglected and doing so over the years has not augured well for Nigeria and the people.
He gave example of how, he, through La Campagne has succeeded in transforming Ikegun community where his resort is based to one of the richest and fast developing locality in Nigeria.
He explained how he has economically empowered the people and transformed their lives and the community.
He recommended such a model to the Nigeria government and Nigerians, urging everyone to look inward and see where they have comparative advantage and latch on to it for the development of the people.
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