Minister Advocates Tourism Development Fund

The minister said a tourism development fund will serve as an incentive to private sector participation in the development of tourism in the country. He said the federal government is determined to create a more conducive environment for tourism to thrive in Nigeria, adding that areas of improvement include infrastructural development, curbing youth restiveness which he said scares away tourists, the enactment of a sustainable institutional framework for public private partnership and the establishment of a national carrier to fly the nation’s flag.
     “Today, as the nation grapples with the daunting challenges of re- strategizing the gains of our democracy and also occupying its pride of place in the comity of nations, tourism has been identified as a veritable option for sustainable development,” Mohammed said.
 He also said the commitment of the present administration towards exploiting the full potentials of the tourism sector is an effort to diversify the economy. Mohammed added that revenue from oil proceeds can no longer sustain the growing demands of the nation, meaning that now is the right time to explore tourism as a “catalyst” for economic growth and job creation.
      “The experience of the past three decades clearly highlights the shortcomings of a development strategy that places premium on foreign exchange earnings from non-renewable natural resources, especially oil and solid minerals.
 "The economic and social dislocation that has been the country’s experience from the 1970s right from the first decade of the country had its origin in the collapse of the international oil market. Our experience in the recent past also clearly demonstrates that oil and mineral resources are non-renewable and have very limited potentials for addressing the development challenges that face the country today over the medium and long-term period,” he said.
           He also said the uniqueness of tourism in Nigeria’s economic sector is as important and also evident in its ability to employ the skilled, semi-skilled and the unskilled manpower.
He said: “While its resilience is proven by the fact that despite wars, political turmoil, natural disasters, medical scares, terrorists attacks and economic and energy crises in various parts of the world, international trade in tourism services has grown spectacularly since the 1980s.”
       SOURCE: https://www.naij.com/671468-tourism-can-benefit-nigeria-lai-mohammed.htmlm