By Frank Meke
In less than one year, it is like the
house of tourism has collapsed. To say all is well within the system is
the lie of the century. Like a bull in a china shop, and a park of
cards, the entire gamuts of the administrative machinery are in tatters
and nobody seems to be in change, neither does anyone care.
It is a sad commentary in our tourism
quest and we have near had it so bad. At every turn and event, tourism
in the past two years, has been in bad news, hugging controversial
headlines and painting Nigeria has a hostile destination in the
community of tourism nations. From Boko Haram, Ebola and other avoidable
human administrative errors, tourism now attracts thumbs down and
closed nose due to the rubbish wafting out from Abuja.
Having successfully destroyed the
cohesiveness and unity of the organized private sector which was once
the only check of shoeless tourism policy positions, the gladiators now
seem to face each other squarely, and tourism the ultimate loser.
At our last check, Nigeria’s once rapidly
growing international tourism acceptance has dipped and now has become a
laughing stock among competitive African tourism nations and the world
at large. About a year ago, we cautioned the leadership of Nigerian
Tourism Development Cooperation (NTDC) to be careful and watch out for
poisoned black coffee presented to the new management as curative tea.
We were called names and our prophetic
advice thrown to the dogs. We thereafter tactically withdraw to allow
the mob and the tourism mules to takeover. It did not stop us from
praying for tourism, to which despite little faith shown by the federal
and state governments and the business seven years ago, helped us boost
our international image and assisted in attracting investors,
particularly during the Late Yar Adua’s Presidency.
Still counting, all the tourism gains
accumulated during Obasanjo/Yar Adu’a presidency, has been squandered
under controversial circumstances and like a walking corpse, what we see
today are just mere dressed up skeletons. Everywhere you look; there
are one or two troubles in and around the sector. The environment which
is a key to tourism growth and investment is no longer attractive and
filled with hate campaigns and claims of performance where there was
none.
The Nigeria political divide has pitched
the federal government tourism authorities against opposition state
governments, hence the tourism leadership at the three tier of
government do not see eye to eye. In three years, notable forums such as
Tourism Minister and Commissioners forum has not held, ditto the
Presidential Council on Tourism which brings governors in Nigeria
together to discuss tourism irrespective of party affiliation.
Indeed it has become a brick wall to
sustain past successful efforts which made tourism including the
ministry and NTDC a must visit place for all stakeholders, including
local and international investors. At the private sector level, there
was a deliberate policy direction and interest to help the players
operate within organized global tourism practices and expectations.
Then, it was not out of place to see NTDC
coordinate and the ministry assist private players and tourism
investors find their feet through strategic meetings and state/local
government town hall gatherings. That process gave birth to creative
windows on employment and provided statistics to guide government policy
tourism actions plans which benefited the nation and its tourism
aspirations.
We recall the gains of Nigeria Hotels
Associations (NHA), National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies
(NANTA), Eko Beaches Tourism Promoters Associations, National
Association Tour Operators of Nigeria (NATOP) , National Association
Tourist Boat Operators (NATBOWAT), Hotel and Hospitality Personnel
Workers Association (HAPPASA), Taxi Operators of Nigeria, Nigeria Youth
Tourism Association (NYTA) and Association of Tourism and Travel
Reporters of Nigeria (ANJET).
Unfortunately, some of these
associations, including the big masquerade, the Federation of Tourism
Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) are either now moribund, liquidated or
divided, singing discordant tune that benefits the tourism erraticism of
the moment.
If the private sector appears deranged,
then the public sector, particularly the workforce is despondent. At the
Abuja tourism house, working tools are said to be scarce, Morale and
zeal to work very low with many seeking transfer of their experience to
other organizations and agencies, a clear reverse of situation some few
years ago when working in tourism agency attracts envious eyes from
sister agencies.
At the Ministry, NTDC and State level,
tourism and culture workers are not appreciated with most reporting to
office daily, doing nothing. While the workers at the Ministry insist
that their leaders must account for government fund for tourism, the
case at NTDC is a catalogue of casuistical administrative blues.
To redeem the failing mantra to which we
found ourselves showcasing today, we call on the President Jonathan to
salvage tourism as he recently did for sports. It is only in tourism,
that the President has no transformation gain to share and the reasons
are obvious. If the President and the Senate leadership could intervene
and sort out problems in sports and aviation, then same process should
be meted out to tourism administration. Time has come to put a stop to
this erratum in Nigeria tourism.
Meke, a tourism journalist wrote this piece from Lagos
