Creative Industry

Tourism, a Tool to Tackle Unemployment, Curb Insecurity – Kangiwa

Published

5 years ago

September 23, 2021

Joel Ajayi
The Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism NIHOTOUR, Alhaji Nura Sani Kangiwa has posited that if properly explored, adequately harnessed and well managed, the Nigerian Travel Tourism and Hospitality industry has the potential to tackle unemployment and curb the menace of insecurity bedeviling the country.

Kangiwa who stated this when he received Abimbola Ogunlusi, Managing Director/CEO of QMDCI Hospitality and Tourism Institute on a courtesy visit at the NIHOTOUR headquarters in Abuja said the tourism industry is a very vast and versatile industry that cuts across several skills and trades that can offer job to millions of unemployed youths and stop them been ready tools in the hands of men of the underworld who use them to perpetuate acts of destruction and acrimony in the land.

He said Nigeria is blessed with abundant tourism resources waiting to be tapped and utilized for the socio-economic good and benefits of the people, noting it is about time Nigerians realize the enormous economic benefits inherent in the tourism industry with the view to keying into it for job creation and poverty alleviation.

The Director General promised to partner and collaborate with relevant stakeholders in both public and private sectors, individuals and organizations such as the QMDCI Hospitality and Tourism Institute in the efforts to impact skills and knowledge based professional competence to youths in the promotion of the Travel Tourism and Hospitality trades as a career for self-employment and self-reliance.

Earlier in her remarks, Ogunlusi stated that her visit on the Director General was to solicit for the Institute’s support, cooperation and collaboration in the effort to take skill acquisition training to a substantial number of youths across the country, saying that her Institute is planning to host a National Conference on Hospitality and Tourism Industry to examine operational practices with the view to identifying areas of deficiencies in the industry for both practitioners viz-a-viz employer-employee relationship.

Ogunlusi expressed her sincere delight with the warm reception accorded her by the Director General, noting that it is sign of the establishment of a long lasting positive and mutually beneficial relationship between the two Institutes and hope to learn and gain more from NIHOTOUR’s wealth of experience as the apex public sector training Institute in Travel-Tourism and Hospitality industry of the counyry.

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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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