Otunba Segun Runsewe’s passion towards repositioning Nigeria’s tourism is undoubtedly yielding result. Upon his appointment as successor to Mrs. Omotayo Omotosho in November 2006, he swung into action, embarking on what stakeholders in the tourism industry called practical tourism.
At the 2 day annual Joint Tourism Board meeting held in Abuja last week, the Director-General of NTDC reiterated his commitment to the development of the nation’s tourism sector. With a statement which has become more or less a mantra “Oil is good but exhaustible while tourism is better and is sustainable” he maintained that tourism is key to Nigeria’s growth and the achievement of President Yar’adua’s 7-point agenda and went on to charge all the states tourism board present at the meeting to ensure that they develop their tourism potentials so they could help diversify our economy and help Nigeria actualize its vision 20-20-20 and the Millennium Development Goals.
The annual meeting held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers had in attendance Commissioners of Culture, Directors of the Tourism Boards form the 36 States of the federation and the FCT and other independent stakeholders in the tourism sector. This also included The Minister of Culture, the Senate Committee Chairman on Tourism and Culture, the Director of SSS.
At the end of the meeting the Board resolved that:
- Government should mainstream tourism to the seven point agenda and
Vision 20-2020, and empower relevant bodies at the Federal and state levels to enable them fully align with the economic and goals.
- All security agencies in the country are given full support and cooperation to sanitize the Nigerian tourism climate and create enabling environment for tourism to grow.
- Each state to concentrate efforts on the development of tourism products in which it has comparative advantage.
- That there should be understanding and cooperation between NTDC and the state tourism bodies in the National registration of Hotels and other Hospitality industries.
In a communiqué signed by Commissioners of Culture and Tourism of Kaduna and Delta States, Hon. Allahmagani H. Yohanna and Richard Mofe Damijo, and the MD/CEO of Gateway Tourism Development Corporation, Mrs. Tomi Shoboyejo commended Otunba Segun Runsewe for his giant strides and positive impacts towards the development of Nigerian Tourism made since his assumption of office three years ago, and especially for providing a platform for participants to interact and exchange ideas. He was also commended for the new vision he has brought to bear in the tourism in Nigeria.
The communiqué also appealed to the government to give all the necessary support to NTDC to continue its international tourism promotional drive, using the nation’s diverse cultural festivals, entertainment and tourism endowments to rebrand Nigeria at international tourism fairs and expositions.
In a press briefing with journalist after the meeting, Otunba Runsewe further revealed that it has been agreed that there is the need to come up with a uniform calendar of tourism events in Nigeria in order to eliminate duplication of responsibility and ensure wider participation in domestic tourism programmes.
“My dream is to make Nigeria a one stop shop tourism destination. Already, we have investors who are willing to build state-of-the-art tourist centres in six locations which will be selected by the investors from the six geo-political zones. This will require the state contributing only 25% of the cost of the investment while the investor provides the rest.” He further revealed.
In further demonstration of his practical tourism approach, Otunba Segun Runsewe took all the participants and journalists on a tour of the federal capital territory showing them, especially the first timers in Abuja all the important landmarks of the city. The journey which began from the tourism village at Area 1 ended at the Abuja Zoological park where the Park Manager, Mr. Aminu Mohammed introduced the tourists to all the animals in the park. The team then return to the Tourism Village where this year’s proceeding was rounded up with a plush luncheon.
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