Creative Industry

We Need Stakeholders’ Support to Sanitize Tourism, Hospitality Sector-Kangiwa

Published

6 years ago

September 18, 2020

The newly appointed, Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) Alhaji Nura Kangiwa has revealed that Tourism and Hospitality Sector need the cooperation and support of all stakeholders in the country to pace up with global standards.

At a meeting with newsmen after a facility tour of the institute’s Lagos campus, Kangiwa, said he will focus on digitalizing the institute by ensuring old equipment and materials were replaced with modern ones to pace up with global best practice.

According to him, the Plans are underway to train best destination managers, employ good marketing plan and more”, he said, adding that NIHOTOUR would be upscaling its training to produce efficient hospitality professionals.

”I was impressed with all I saw during the facility tour of the Lagos institute particularly with the vibrant and friendly staff I saw who I observed are hungry for action in working with me.

“I believe in teamwork and I have seen that team spirit in them, they gave me courage and confidence that we will satisfy the yearnings of the tourism sector in Nigeria.

”We intend to digitalize NIHOTOUR, our modus of Operandi will be in accordance with international best practices, to achieve this, we have to change everything so almost all the facilities will be changed.”

He added that: “the only way to tackle the unemployment problem in the country was to harness the creative industry properly which happened to constitute 70 percent of employment opportunities.”

Kangiwa said that the Institute also planned to partner with the National Assembly for the provision of sufficient funds to help the youths and women in the creative industry to be productive and independent.

He noted that the National Assembly will also be educated on the quality of NIHOTOUR certification as unemployed youths could secure jobs overseas with the certification.

“NIHOTOUR was rated one of the best top ten authorized training centers in Africa in August 2012 by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and in 2015 we became top in Africa and the world so with our certificate, unemployed youths can secure jobs abroad.

“Henceforth, we shall be engaging the best brains for NIHOTOUR training, If we do not get NIHOTOUR right, we cannot get the Nigerian tourism right,” he said.

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Creative Industry

FG Backs MyCityApp Launch of 100-Day Tourism Calendar to Drive $100bn Economic Growth

Published

2 weeks ago

September 15, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Federal Government has thrown its weight behind the launch of MyCityApp, a Nigerian city discovery and tourism platform designed to aggregate festivals, concerts, cultural events and lifestyle experiences into a single digital calendar.

The platform, which flags off the 100-Day Tourism Calendar, was unveiled on Monday at the Ember2Remember National Stakeholders’ Conference in Victoria Island, Lagos, with the initiative targeting Nigeria’s estimated $100 billion tourism and creative economy opportunity.

In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Media and Publicity Adviser to the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Nneka Ikem Anibeze, the ministry said the conference was aimed at mobilising public and private stakeholders to transform the September-to-December festive period into jobs, investment and economic growth.

Speaking at the unveiling, the Minister, Hannatu Musa Musawa, said millions of visitors travel across Nigeria every year to celebrate, reconnect and experience the country’s diverse culture, stressing that the festive season could be deliberately organised and monetised to strengthen tourism’s contribution to the economy.

“This initiative is about moving beyond the traditional concept of a festive season. It is about deliberately organising, packaging, promoting, and monetising one of the most economically active periods in our national calendar,” Musawa said.

She noted that every visitor generates economic activity across several sectors, including aviation, transportation, hospitality, restaurants, entertainment, retail, technology, artisans and local communities.

The Minister commended MyCityApp Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Ifeoma Chukwu, for her vision and commitment to the initiative.

She urged state governments, event organisers, tourism operators, hospitality businesses and other stakeholders to list their festivals, concerts, exhibitions, food experiences, cultural celebrations, fashion and sporting events on the national calendar.

Musawa said the platform would enable Nigerians, members of the diaspora and international visitors to discover tourism and entertainment experiences across the country from a single, credible source.

Earlier, Chukwu said Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage and creative sector provided enormous opportunities for tourism-driven economic growth.

She cited the contributions of tourism to the economies of countries such as Spain, France and the United States, arguing that Nigeria could equally build a $100 billion tourism economy.

Also present were Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Toke Benson-Awoyinka; Enugu State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Ugochi Madueke; NCAC Director-General, Obi Asika; National Gallery of Art Director-General, Ahmed Sodangi; ARCON Director-General, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo; and MTN Nigeria CEO, Dr Karl Toriola.

MyLagosApp and MyCityApp will serve as the digital engines of the calendar, distributing events through a 360-degree media ecosystem to audiences in Nigeria and the diaspora.

Stakeholders were encouraged to upload their events on MyCityApp to participate in the national tourism calendar urging them to upload events on http://www.MyCityApp.io.

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