Creative Industry

Nihoutour To Host Biggest Gastronomy Festival In Abuja

Published

1 year ago

March 28, 2023

Joel Ajayi

The Management of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) have announced their hosting of Gastronomy Festival at the sprawling Abuja International Conference Centre on the 16th and 17th of June, 2023.

This year’s Gastronomy Festival is the third consecutive food and beverage exhibition and sampling event annually organized by NIHOTOUR since 2021. The theme for this year’s event is Culinary Arts: The Gate Way to Growing Tourism Destination.

Disclosing highlights of the Gastronomy Festival in his office in Abuja, Nura Sani Kangiwa, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of NIHOTOUR, said the event will feature amongst others, exhibition of indigenous gastronomy by exhibitors prominent among which are, the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), that will as usual, showcase indigenous Nigerian cuisines from the six-geopolitical zones of the country.

The National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism of Nigeria is established by an Act of Parliament to train, certify and register personnel in Nigeria’s Hospitality, Travel and Tourism sector.

Accordingly, NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival is conceptualised to upskill Nigerian gastronomes on the nitty-gritties of the preparation and presentation of foods, especially Nigerian traditional cuisines, with the objective of improving the expertise of personnel in the industry.

Moreover, due to the dearth of skilled culinary artists in Nigeria, NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festival provides one of the best opportunities for hospitality and tourism stakeholders, students, and enthusiasts to have hands-on learning and perspectives on the sustainability of developing tourism destinations using activities of Gastronomy Festivals as promotional tools.

Further to that, with the preponderance of ‘Bush Meat’ hunting, using traps, in Nigeria, which inadvertently endangers wildlife and hinders Nigeria’s wildlife conservation efforts, the Gastronomy Festival will copiously advocate for Responsible Tourism practises in Nigeria.

Expectedly, NIHOTOUR’s Gastronomy Festival is one of the largest and most culturally eclectic culinary arts and related gastronomy event in Africa. The event attracts over 5000 visitors and industry stakeholders who participate in the experiential learning of food production, processes and indulge in free sampling of diverse Nigerian and international cuisines and beverages on display.

Typically, the festival is laced with traditional gaiety and entertainments that highlight Nigeria’s rich cultural diversity, including musicals and dance choreography.

In previous NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festivals, large corporate organizations, such as Fan Milk, Danone and the Diplomatic Community in Nigeria, including, China, Spain and Ethiopia showcased their countries’ food culture and revealed processes of cuisines preparation – from farm to the table.

This year’s event will attract more foreign missions and corporate Nigerian brands involved in food and beverage processing, research, and development. Following the successes of previous NIHOTOUR Gastronomy Festivals, activities slated for this year’s 2-day event include Nigerian food and beverage exhibition by NIHOTOUR and other leading restaurant franchises; international cuisines showcasing by foreign missions in Nigeria; cooking competition by Nigerian culinary schools, ‘Jollof War’ by select West African chefs; and investiture of NIHOTOUR Fellowship on outstanding individuals who have immensely contributed to the development of Hospitality and Tourism sector in Nigeria.

There would also be conferences involving Nigeria’s leading tourism and hospitality stakeholders and business operators, as members of the Hospitality and Tourism Sector Skills Council of Nigeria (HTSSCN).

Additionally, NIHOTOUR would deliver training and masterclass for members of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Travel Writers (ANJET).

The facilitators slated for ANJET training include Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, the Director General of National Council for Arts and Culture; Mr. Buky Ponle, the Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria; and Peter Igho, the brain behind some of the most popular programs on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) that enthralled households in the 1970s and the 1990s.

It is empirically evident that Gastronomy is currently one of the main tourisms ‘push and pull’ factors that attract travellers to a destination.

Hence, gastronomy has become a strategic tourist product that contributes to employment of host community’s youths and women, creation of wealth for investors, increased revenue streams for governments and improving the value – chain of producing quality foods and processing the foods to hotels and catering outlets for the tourism industry.

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Creative Industry

New Sheriff In Town: Wike Champions First Abuja Investment Summit & Expo 2023

Published

6 months ago

October 20, 2023

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The maiden edition of the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo 2023 takes off in the Federal Capital Tuesday 14th – Wednesday 15th November, 2023, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Barr. Nyesom Wike champions the Annual event to unlock the abundant investment opportunities of the territory for greater economic and industrial growth of the city.

In a statement signed by MNIPR, MITPNDirector, of Communications Ahmed Mohammed Sule on Thursday in Abuja, stated that the Summit and Expo is coming on the heels of Wike’s resolve as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to make a difference in improved infrastructure, security, and socio service provisions for inhabitants of the Federal capital city and its environs, against the backdrop of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Scheduled to hold at the Velodrome, Package ‘A’ of the M.K.O. Abiola National Stadium Abuja, the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo christened: ‘Unlocking the Investment Opportunities of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory is made up of two sessions; The Summit, which will be an interactive session to examine and explore critical areas of investment opportunities in the FCT by expert speakers and panel of discussants.

The other is the Exhibition aspect which provides the window for FCTA Mandate Secretariats and their Agencies, Departments, and Units, allied exhibitors from Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as Organized Private Sector (OPS) companies, firms and corporate organizations to showcase their businesses and projects with the view to attracting investors for a collaborative partnership to grow their respective sectors.

According to highlights made available to the press on the essence of the Summit and Expo, they include; the promotion and marketing of the Federal Capital Territory as a safe investment destination in Africa, the creation of a platform for networking, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration among investors, entrepreneurs, government officials and other stakeholders and the showcasing of the potentials of Abuja as an investment destination, in addition to portraying the city’s socio-economic and cultural strengths.

As an annual event of impeccable repute and global standards, organizers say the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo 2023 seeks to showcase the potential of Abuja as an investment destination, create a platform for networking and collaboration as well and promote economic growth that will boost Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and development in the city.

Adding that events and activities lined up for the two-day program are meant to awaken the economic potential of the Federal Capital Territory through the provision of a series of action-oriented and implementable dialogues with multi-faceted stakeholders invited as investors, speakers, panelists, and exhibitors to the Summit and Expo

Indicators from the Organizing Secretariat of the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo revealed quite a number of Ministers have signified their intentions to lead their Agencies and parastatals to the Summit and leverage the opportunities it presents to showcase their sectoral mandates in stimulating investments for the economic growth and development of not only the Federal Capital Territory but the country as a whole.

The Federal Capital Territory Secretariats as primary targets will be showcasing viable Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects offering opportunities for investors to leverage on the various business attractions from both the government and individual stakeholders who will be in attendance and to afford financing opportunities for credible investors to access funding for various sector involvements including InfoTech, Agricultural and Agro-processing, Oil and Gas, Mining, Road and Building Projects, Health, Transport, Tourism and Hospitality, Real Estate and Property development and a myriad of Infrastructural Development projects

Worthy of note, as posited by the Organizing Committee, is that the benefits to the FCT is that the Summit and Expo will help boost developmental activities in Abuja and its environs; create of over 500,000 job opportunities for the Abuja populace and its environs; drive the socio-economic growth of the Federal Capital Territory, which is a fundamental aspect of the ‘Renewed Hope’ mantra of President’s Tinubu’s administration

It is expected that the Abuja Investment Summit and Expo will objectively result in stimulating deals and securing transactions for the accelerated economic development of the FCT in industrialization and manufacturing, creation of economic zones and industrial parks, trade logistics for regional integration, structural transformation for private sector competitiveness, skill development and job creation among others.

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