We want to make tourism sustainable business in Nigeria – DG, NIHOTOUR
Nura Sani Kangiwa, the newly appointed director general of National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), has declared that he is committed to improving on the training capacity of the Institute in order to achieve sustainable tourism development in Nigeria.
He made the revelation on September 1, 2020, in a meeting with a section of NIHOTOUR management team at their headquarters in Abuja, after his official resumption.
“We want to make tourism a sustainable business in Nigeria by increasing the training capacity of the Institute to international standards. This is because, without hands-on training, people cannot successfully create and market competitive tourist products and destinations”, Kangiwa said.
It would be recalled that on August 25, 2020, President
Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kangiwa as the substantive director general of NIHOTOUR. His appointment was announced by Lai Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture.
Speaking with NIHOTOUR management team in his office, Kangiwa equally praised Kabiru Momoh, who was the acting director general of the Institute until Kangiwa’s appointment. In the exchange, Kangiwa appreciated the efforts of the erstwhile director general stating that, “You have set a formidable template for me to work with. Hence, you and I shall work very closely together to improve the processes and operations of NIHOTOUR for the long-term benefit of Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism sector.
Accordingly, the new DG of NIHOTOUR encouraged the entire staff and members of the Institute to support him, without fear or bias, in his drive to reposition the hospitality and tourism professionals’ training institution.
He said, “You may need to be assured that I work within the cherished principles of the United Nations of being nonsectional. As such, I am fully gender- blind, religion- blind, tribal-blind and decidedly nonparochial in life and in my work ethics. I have always been true to this principle in my previous appointments, both in the public and private sectors, and this time around I shall be much more so”.
NIHOTOUR is the premier hospitality training school in Nigeria. The Institute has been operating since 1987, with training centers spread across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. Presently, NIHOTOUR is affiliated to several international training schools in the USA, Europe and African regions. NIHOTOUR was established in 1987, following a tripartite project agreement NIR/85/004 signed that year between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) as part of a comprehensive approach to tourism development in the country.
Kangiwa is a renowned tourism technocrat, who hails from a royal family in Kebbi State. Prior to his appointment as DG NIHOTOUR, Kangiwa held different positions in Nigeria’s tourism public and private sectors including being the vice president, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), North West Zone; and also, a senior Special Assistant on ‘Tourism Matters’ to the Governor of Kebbi State between 2016 - 2019.
However, his appointment has been roundly received and celebrated by hospitality and tourism business owners, travel traders and practitioners across Nigeria.