‘Nigerian dream achievable with hospitality, tourism’

Nigerians join the rest of the world to mark the World Tourism Day 2015. What is the place of Nigeria in hospitality and tourism development?
I believe we are improving and I’m hopeful that we will speed up action this time around when it has become imperative for us to diversify our economy as a nation. It is no longer news that many countries of the world generate the larger percentage of their revenue from hospitality and tourism, but the case is not the same in Nigeria.
Despite our conducive weather which is suitable for visitors and relative peace in most of our states, we have a population of over 150 million people with many tourism sites, rich cultural heritage and festivals, capable of providing jobs, revenue through income tax, property tax, company tax and duties on commodities and services rendered to tourists, which can also contribute immensely to the country’s economy even above oil, if handled well.
It is unhealthy for us as a nation that we live on revenue majorly generated from oil, and that’s why when there is any drop in oil price our economy is drastically affected. Today, the tourism and hospitality sector of the country contributes little or nothing to the GDP. In 2010 the contribution of the sector to the GDP was 1.4 percent and rose to 1.5 percent in 2013 and has remained the same till date according to data from World Travel and Tourism Council.
What can you say is the problem with Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism sector?
First is the lack of political will on the part of government at various levels. The previous administrations have designed several policies on tourism development but it is perceived that those policies were not well-driven, especially when its implementation does not involve the professionals. Most times, it is usually politicized and this has caused a lot of damage and waste of resources, efforts and time.
Our country today has various departments, agencies and parastatals that were established to develop the hospitality and tourism sector of the country, but many of them are under-funded, they were not given good attention in budgetary provisions. These agencies can hardly organise a solid festival or do major upgrading of our tourism sites.
We have many tourism sites today in Nigeria that are not developed and have no correspondent facilities, which make them unattractive for tourists. Many tourism sites are not even accessible because of road networks which make it very difficult for us to attract private investors. The standard of our education and school infrastructure also affects our education tourism. Nigerians today spend more on foreign education than we receive.
It is very hard to see foreigners coming to Nigeria to school but Nigerians spend heavily sending their children abroad to school because of the standard. It means we spend more resources on others than we receive.
What are you doing as a professional body to improve the hospitality and tourism sector in Nigeria?
First is in the area of education.  As a professional body we have continued to preach and practice standard education, skills, character and creativity among our members through trainings and workshops. We have continued to monitor activities and encourage excellence and also serving as appropriate role models for practitioners and encouraging improvement in various practices which translate to offering the public better and standard services, most especially to meet up with global standards.
Reports indicate that the aviation and travel sector is already the second employer in the world, with huge potential for further job creation. Travel and tourism is projected to employ 338 million people by 2023 and aviation and aerospace an additional 58 million people. Yet the industry encounters difficulties in attracting technical and managerial expertise.
Our major focus as a body is to build strong human resources and networks to contend with emerging realities and assist both private and public sectors to succeed. We engage in training our student members not just to rely on basic theory and practicals in school but to make innovative steps and develop needed skills.
What is your recommendation to the current administration on the development of the hospitality and tourism sector?
It is imperative for the government to carry out a thorough review of this sector especially the current stage, problems and prospects and then develop the political will to employ capable and professional hands to develop the sector.
There has been much talk about diversifying our economy. I think this is the best time for the government to take action and this should include better funding for relevant agencies to upgrade and do better jobs. We must start building a Nigeria without oil. Also, without the availability of good infrastructure, such as good transportation facilities by road, railway, air and water ways, as well as security and electricity, it will be very difficult to attract private investors. One of the major steps government at all levels must take is to provide these infrastructures so as to naturally open up the business.
Lastly our local government system must be empowered and allowed to function properly, so as to allow better action on local tourism site development and provide opportunity for revenue generation at the local level.