The Director of National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) Aare Abisoye Fagade has said by virtue of the NIHOTOUR Act signed into law in 2023 by former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, the institute was longer a training institute, but rather a regulatory body for all personnel operating under the tourism industry value chain.
Fagade made this disclosure during a stakeholders meeting with tourism industry practitioners in Abuja last week. He said, “NIHOTOUR, as it is today, is no longer a training institute. NIHOTOUR has been given extra powers. The reason we are here today is to talk on how we can use this power to create an enabling environment for stakeholders to harness the opportunities”.
Fagade emphasized that within his tenure at the helms of affairs in the institute, he was determined to bring standards to the industry, and that the main reason for calling for the meeting was to ask for collaboration from the tourism industry stakeholders.
In his speech at the meeting, the President of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Mr. Nkereuwem Onung, while commending the new NIHOTOUR boss for his vision and tenacity to make a difference in the institute, praised the former Director General for working assiduously to make sure the new NIHOTOUR Act was passed and signed into law.
He said: “We are going to speak as a family. The federation was set up by government so that the private sector will have one voice, so that we do not work in isolation. While I commend the DG for his efforts, I want us to appreciate Alhaji Nura Kangiwa. If not for that DG, this present one will be looking for where to start from.
“When the laws of NIHOTOUR and NTDA were signed, we were taken aback as private sector. It is normal that when a man is appointed and when he comes into the new office, he would ask where is the law backing my office? They give him a law, if you are the one, you would want to implement that.”
A major mandate of the NIHOTOUR 2022 Act is to register and standardise the manpower within the tourism industry.
