Creative Industry
FG Eyes Guinness World Record with 3.6km Longest Dining Table at Renewed Hope NIHOTOUR Mega Event
Joel Ajayi
The Federal Government has announced plans to attempt a Guinness World Record for the longest dining table in the world, a 3.6-kilometre setup expected to seat between 2,000 and 3,000 participants, during the Mega Renewed Hope NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival slated for December in Abuja.
The ambitious initiative was unveiled on Thursday at a joint world press briefing addressed by the Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Aare (Dr.) Abisoye Fagade, and the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa.
This year’s festival, themed “Oriki: Taste of Culture,” will celebrate Nigeria’s rich culinary heritage while advancing economic opportunities across the hospitality and creative sectors — aligning with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Dr. Fagade disclosed that the record-breaking attempt will take place on the morning of December 6, after which the table will be transformed into a communal dining space later in the day.
“We plan to break the record in the morning of December 6 and use the same table for a dining event later. There will be food, culture, music, and comedy in the evening. It will show that Abuja can also host major cultural events in December,”
he said.
He added that the initiative is part of NIHOTOUR’s broader strategy to strengthen Nigeria’s tourism value chain through skills development, entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment, while attracting investors and expanding business prospects in food, hospitality, and agribusiness.
Speaking at the briefing, Minister Hannatu Musa Musawa described the event as a strategic platform for economic inclusion and youth participation in the creative economy.
“When we talk about economic growth and youth development, gastronomy plays a role just like film, music, and fashion. People eat every day, and Nigeria has made significant progress in showcasing its food globally,”
she noted.
Musawa also highlighted how Nigerian cuisine continues to enhance cultural diplomacy, emphasizing the creativity of Nigerian chefs and food entrepreneurs who have deepened the country’s global cultural footprint.
The week-long festival will feature culinary masterclasses, food tastings, exhibitions, cultural displays, and investment dialogues, attracting local and international stakeholders.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is expected to formally unveil the Mega Renewed Hope NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival and the Guinness World Record attempt in Abuja.
Creative Industry
FG Backs MyCityApp Launch of 100-Day Tourism Calendar to Drive $100bn Economic Growth
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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