Nigeria Has Shown Political Will To Move Tourism Forward – UN Agency

The Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Agency (UNWTO), Mr.
Taleb Rifai, has hailed the demonstration of political will by the
Nigerian government to move tourism forward in the country.

”There is the existence of political will and we can feel it from
outside (the country),” Mr. Rifai said on Tuesday at the opening of a
two-day meeting with the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed, in Madrid, Spain

”Anyone who is interested in Nigeria will know the positive
development that has taken place (in the country)” he said, adding
that there is the need to ”tell this story to the world”.

The UNWTO Secretary-General, who noted that tourism contributes 10% of
global GDP and creates one out of every 11 jobs, expressed delight at
the opportunity provided by the Minister’s visit for the agency to
seriously engage with Nigeria, instead of the ”casual engagements”
which both (UNWTO and Nigeria) has had in the past.

”Nigeria is absolutely very important to us. The success of Nigeria
is positive for the (African) continent and the world,” he said.

For his part, the Minister briefed the UNWTO Secretary-General and his
delegation on the political, economic and security situation in
Nigeria, saying while the country is going through a tough time, the
government is focused and determined to take it out of its present
predicament.

He said with the defeat of Boko Haram in the North-east and the
ongoing engagement of the militants in the Niger Delta by the federal
government, Nigeria is on top of the security situation in the
country.

Alhaji Mohammed said since Culture and Tourism has been identified as
one of the sectors that form the plank of the country’s
diversification efforts, there has been a definite move to resuscitate
the President Council on Tourism (PCT), the highest advisory body on
tourism in the country.

The Minister also told the UN agency of his plan to visit each of the
clusters identified in the country’s Tourism Master Plan as part of an
overall effort to re-ignite the Master Plan and also encourage
domestic tourism.

He urged the global body to support Nigeria’s tourism development
through the provision of technical assistance, especially in the area
of data gathering and processing, as well as capacity building.

”In particular, we are planning capacity building centre for women in
tourism in each of the country’s six geo-political zones, because when
you empower women, you empower the society,” Alhaji Mohammed said,
adding that the assistance of the UNWTO in this regard would be a
welcome development.

The Minister, who was accompanied to the meeting by officials of the
Nigerian Embassy in Spain and the Ministry of Information and Culture,
is in Spain at the invitation of the UNWTO Secretary-General,who has
promised to work with Nigeria in designing a programme that can give a
fillip to the development of tourism in Nigeria.