The Federal Government has spent over 9billion dollars on the building of infrastructure since the commencement of Buhari’s administration, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said on Sunday.
Mohammed stated this during a press briefing in Abuja to commence the three days 61st Meeting of the UN World TourismOrganization UNWTO-CAF, which begins on Monday in Abuja.
Explaining that the increased infrastructural development across the country has helped attract more foreign investors, the the minister said this led to Nigeria’s improved ranking on the World Bank global ease of doing business.
The theme of the UNWTO-CAF meeting is, ” Tourism Statistics: A Catalyst for Development” and according to the minister, this fits very well into Nigeria’s quest to improve on her tourism statistics for planning purposes and the ultimate development of her tourism.
About 166 foreign delegates , 26Ministers and 332 Nigerian delegates have confirmed attendance while many more are still being expected for the meeting which seeks to explore how tourism can be better deployed for development.
” All the necessary preparations have been made to ensure this. The main committee, as well as the many sub-committees, have worked tirelessly to make this event a huge success. We also expect an impressive attendance. As at today, we have confirmation from 166 foreign delegates, 26 Ministers and 332 Nigerian delegates, excluding the gentlemen of the press. Several delegates have arrived and many more are expected in today.
He said the meeting is being hosted in Abuja following huge successes recorded by Buhari’s administration in fighting insecurity.
“ Four years ago, hosting this event in Abuja would have been a pipe dream, considering the level of insecurity,” he said.
“Nigeria is safe and secure for its citizens and for foreign tourists and investors. Whatever pockets of criminal acts that exist are being addressed squarely.”
Some of the highlights, the minister said include the opening ceremony, to be performed by President Muhammadu Buhari, followed by Ministers’ meeting. The meeting is expected to wrap up on Wednesday by the Technical Visit of the delegates to the Eko Atlantic City in Lagos.
Mohammed said Nigeria will also use the event to showcase of the rich and diverse culture of Nigeria; the Seki Dance Drama from the South-South, the command performance of the globally-acclaimed ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’ by Bolanle Austen-Peters, the Drum Assembly, the Ekemini Dance group from Akwa Ibom, the Benue State Cultural Troupe, and the Ebonyi State Cultural Troupe.
Also speaking, Secretary-General of the UN World TourismOrganization (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili, said one of the objective of the UN is to eradicate poverty across Africa nations and the best way to end poverty is to create more jobs but jobs.
Zurab said the UNWTO, a United Nations agency in charge of promoting responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism for economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.
“UNWTO priorities includes improvingtourism competitiveness, Promoting sustainable tourism development, Advancing tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction and development, Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building and building partnerships,” said Zurab
Zurab also noted that recognizing that job cannot be created without good and quality education, the United Nations is promoting Nigeria and other Africa continents to attract local and foreign investors for the development of the continent.
“Tourism is the best way to create new jobs and we are here to discuss how to make it better and easier because most of the countries have their own policies. We will also be discussing how to make borders accessible for tourists in Africa continents”, he said.
The future of Africa according to Zurab is tourism which can provide lots of employments for the continents noting that major oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia are investing lots in tourism.
Oyin Aminu, Abuja
