The Chairman of Air Peace, Dr Allen Onyema, has called for weigh society-confidential sector coordination to reposition tourism as a key driver of Nigeria’s economy, saying the country is lagging in an area using vast, unexplored opportunities.
The Air Peace boss said Nigeria’s cultural diversity is its strongest tourism property. Alongside 378 ethnic nationalities, he noted, the country has hundreds of festivals and traditions that persist substantially undocumented.
Speaking at the Nigeria Staff of Tour Operators (NATOP) Annual Comprehensive Meeting, Onyema said insecurity narratives are actively damaging the sector.
He listed advance circuits from Nigeria to The Gambia, and during Nigeria to Calabar and Akwa Ibom as products waiting to be packaged.
“We additionally have our seas,” he said.
As tour operators, all you look for to do is settle attention to the season of Durbar,” he stated.
“In the North, we have the Durbar. That alone can be sold.
He cited how foreign airlines now transfer cabin crew under security escort based on claims that Nigeria is unsafe and how individual security firms earn from selling fear to foreign establishments.
Let’s apply our diversity for helpful instead of Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa divisions.”
“How do we harness 378 varied cultures so individuals can come and see?
He too decried person trafficking as another barrier to nationwide image, recounting how Air Peace repatriated 67 Nigerian girls trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire free of charge following they were discovered by activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly established as Verydarkman.
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“The opening of that highway will increase our tourism latent and generate massive job opportunities,” Onyema said.
Nigeria has a sprawling Atlantic coastline from Lagos to Akwa Ibom — bigger than all the Caribbean nations put together.
“All the Caribbean nations have is water and beaches, and that’s what they offer.
“It is firm for some individuals,” he said. “When we bring in pilots, technicians and engineers, the earliest subject is: ‘Where is our security?’ We are killing tourism by the things we tell and do.”
To counter this, Onyema urged tour operators to look inward and champion domestic tourism. “Instead of going to Barbados and other places, let us encourage our own destinations.
The Air Peace boss threw his weight behind the federal government’s Coastal Highway project from Lagos to Calabar, describing it as one of the administration’s optimal initiatives.
Concluding, he tasked NATOP to manage the value by partnering using domestic heritage agencies and effective together with federal, declare, and regional governments.
Let the individual sector, government at all levels, and tour operators drive this together.”
“Tourism is one area that is yet untapped,” Onyema said. “Let us acquire involved.
Source: NATOP AGM: Onyema urges public-private push to unlock Nigeria’s untapped tourism potential
