The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture has commenced the
process of activating the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) as
part of efforts to fast-track the development of tourism in Nigeria.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday when he received the Federation
of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) on a courtesy visit to his
office.
He said a Steering Committee meeting, which will draft the agenda for
the inaugural session of the PCT, will hold on Sept. 6th 2016.
“My predecessors found wisdom in constituting what is termed as the
Presidential Council on Tourism, which is the highest advisory body on
tourism in Nigeria, and the composition of that Council is such that
the Ministers of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Works, Power
and Housing, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Health, Environment, Aviation
and Transport are members, as well as the President of FTAN,” Alhaji
Mohammed said.
He said the resuscitation of the PCT was one of the recommendations
adopted at the National Summit on Tourism and Culture, organised by
the Ministry in April, as a deliberate strategy to make tourism a
viable sector of the economy.
According to the Minister, there is a renewed vigour in the present
administration to focus more on tourism, with a view to turning around
the fortunes of the economy.
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“We are very confident that tourism will very soon become another
veritable source of revenue for the government and employment for our
youths, by the time we are able to provide the missing infrastructure,
because the biggest challenge for us is how do we turn our tourist
sites to tourist attractions? We can’t do that alone in the ministry
of Information and Culture. We will need the support and collaboration
of not just other ministries but also the practitioners in tourism,”
he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said the ministry is already partnering with the UN
World Tourism Organisation, the British Council and the Tony Elumelu
Foundation to review the nation’s tourism master-plan and build the
capacity of Nigerians in the tourism and culture sector, particularly
in the collation of data for effective planning.
In his remarks, FTAN President Tomi Akingbogun commended the Minister
for adopting innovative ideas to address some of the challenges
affecting tourism development in Nigeria, adding: “We quite appreciate
the time, the effort and the energy you are putting towards tourism
development in Nigeria.”
Chief Akingbogun noted that the Minister had bridged the gap between
the government and the private sector, particularly in bringing the
practitioners on board during the last National Summit on Culture and
Tourism, describing the development as an innovative way of tapping
from the knowledge and experience of the private sector towards the
development of tourism in Nigeria.
He hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for mustering the political will
to defeat terrorism, particularly in the North-East, saying the
criminality in other parts of the country, such as kidnapping and
herdsmen/farmers clash, are just pockets of challenges that should not
affect the perception of safety in Nigeria.
