Culture and Tourism: A protest unending?
I had an early Saturday morning meeting with my residents’ association. It is difficult to escape the reality of Nigeria’s difficult moments and the efforts by the government to find solutions.
We run a different government at this level, and everyone is concerned and conscious of the fact that we are the government, I mean, we either stay focused or perish together. The bills are mounting, tenament rates, electricity bills, refuse collection dues, security levies, and now that the schools are on holidays, more food at home, and the school fees.
So much, so little, so the growing list of residents owing bills, street related concerns mounts and it is the business of the leadership of the residents association to find solutions, show mercy or pretend they never heard anyone complaining.
I was torn apart by those hard realities and the greater challenge to understand why we must and have been talking about better cultural tourism days that never emerged or yet to emerge. It’s like waiting for eternity!
I can’t possibly remember all the tourism workshops, seminars, and conferences, some like soap operas that clearly map our various cultural tourism offerings and sometimes, like a gospel, we are encouraged to patiently wait for the new cultural tourism economy. It is tiring!
It has been years of mountainous hope upon hope, breeding certificated doubting Thomas’s and the emerging presence of dubious portfolio operators and deceptive magicians as ministers of culture and tourism.
Next week Tuesday, the Umbrella body of registered travel and tourism Associations in Nigeria, the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), will engage us on the way forward for the sector and expert resources persons have been lined up to excite us again.
Honestly, I don’t know how Nkereweum Onung, President of FTAN, has kept the industry going in this tough times, particularly in getting our owambe minister of tourism, Lola Ade John focused on her job and her god son, Nura Kangiwa out of the kitchen of vanity education. I really don’t know!
Now that same Saturday was the birthday of folarin Coker, the Director General of Nigeria Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), and since the weather looked inviting for Amala delicacy hunt, I did the unthinkable and surprised those who want us to fight forever and called him out for the celebration over Amala challenge. Happy birthday, Coker????. Gwo gwo gwongwo!!
Ok, since we have been talking about protests and nobody is listening, maybe we should shake hands across the border and pretend all is well even though we know we are sinking. Yes, we are down the ladder, and we should at least admit we have failed.
It is funny that the best of our tourism education in four years was just about cooking rice and pranting deceptive “ecomess”, using our rural poor as guinea pigs. We are yet to find out how N-power tourism education funds disappeared, and I heard it was spirited out under Babanriga, the type of agbada used by the famous warriors of old Oyo Empire. Gwo gwo gwongwo!
Maybe we should get brainjotter, the comedian and skit artist, to help us do a gwo gwo gwongwo dance over the missing N-power tourism education funds. It will be an interesting side attraction, and cultural tourism thievery dance drama interlude during ftan AGM in Abuja.
Anyway, I will try and reach my brother, Dr Shaibu Husseini of National Film, and video Censors Board to see if the skit meets with approved rating for public consumption. Dr Shaibu Husseini has been doing a fantastic job since he took over the place. I don’t know what the standard organisations of Nigeria are doing.
Lola Ade John has performed magic in far away Zambia, where we bidded and won the right to host UN Tourism Africa CAF meeting in Nigeria next year. Lai Mohammed was there and am sure as the special assistant to the secretary general of UN Tourism, he would come back to help lola Ade John set up dedicated committees to waste government money to host serious tourism nations which may find it difficult to understand why Nigeria is always at the forefront of playing ostrich games as hospitality offerings.
To more serious issues and to which I believe should pour water on our relentless agitation for sanity in the industry, is the presidential proclamation to consolidate the ministries and put a knife to the wasteful spending in the system. I don’t want to concern myself with the scrapping of the office of the first lady, but to focus on the desirable consolidation and merger of the ministries of culture and tourism.
That truly was the best way to go, and we have been shouting and protesting that the political equation that separated the co joined twins shouldn’t have taken place at all and in the first place. To add to our woes and nightmares was the unexplainable appointment of two mistakes as ministers, Hannatu Musa Musawa and Lola Ade John, for culture and tourism, respectively.
Mr. President, the Jagaban Borgu, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a second chance to correct those mistakes and let culture drive our tourism in truth and spirit. I also understand that Nura Kangiwa will step aside this month, after four years of gwo gwo gwongwo dance at nihotour and I pray he does not return for good. He’s another mistake and misfit in the quest to define our tourism growth process. We need tested educationist at NIHOTOUR and not contractors! Gwo gwo gwongwo!!
In all honesty and especially as I see it, time has come for the private sector to take back our tourism space. I wish to see an ftan to can push cultural tourism reformation to the face of the president. FTAN under Nkereweum Onung should shape up serious advocacy for strategic leadership change and get our petitions heard from the national assemblies, state, and federal governments.
Going forward, culture and tourism ministry should not be reserved for expired political exiles and beggars. We won’t take or welcome clowns such as lola Ade John and Hannatu Musa Musawa in our cultural tourism space. Mr. President should look out and appoint us the very bold, creative, and result oriented game changers.
We don’t want models or comedians either. We won’t welcome masquerades and chameleons. We want bulldozers, achievers, and role models, those who can die for the industry to blossom. We don’t want award seeking skeletons pretending to love us for clapping for their failures. We say no to failures, second eleven, and surplus to requirement appointees. Gwo gwo gwongwo!!!!.
