The Hotel and Tourism Group of the Lagos State Chamber of Commerce & Industry paid a courtesy visit to the Honorable Commissioner of Tourism, Art and Culture Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf on the 12th day of April, 2022, at about 2pm in the afternoon.
The Chairman of the group, Mrs Sally Ukpo, started by presenting compliments to the Hon. Commissioner from the Lagos Chamber of commerce and industry (LCCI)
She explained that LCCI is the voice of the private sector and a strong advocacy body between private business and the public sector. Generally, interfaces with government on matters of policy and the economy as they affect businesses especially the small and medium business sectors.
In her speech, she stated that The Hotel & Tourism group congratulates and applauds the Commissioner for the recently launched 20 year Lagos Tourism Master Plan which will go a long way to increase and enhance the tourism activities in the state
In her words she said, “As operators and stakeholders in the Tourism industry we are very happy and look forward to seeing more cooperation and partnership between the state Government and the chamber. We therefore request for copies of the master plan in order to study and understand areas of involvement, cooperation and partnership between government stakeholder and the tourism sites and communities. We shall be grateful if the ministry can cooperate with the chamber by nominating a member of your ministry to represent the state at our future Hotel & Tourism Group meetings and activities”
She further states that, as part of our activities for the year, the LCCI through our Hotel & Tourism Group is planning a Town Hall Meeting at EPE Town on July 28th to create enlightenment and awareness of the local content of our tourism potential in Lagos State. This promise to bring together key players in the industry and we solicit the support of your ministry and the state government for a successful outcome
We are also looking forward to celebrating the World Tourism Day (September 27TH) in partnership with other association and Lagos State in a bid to further strengthen our resolve to promote domestic tourism and impact on our businesses and communities
In her conclusion, Mrs Ukpo, told the Hon. Commissioner that on behalf of the LCCI, The Hotel & Tourism group look forward to a sustainable beneficial relationship with the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Art & Culture.
In her response to the above speech, the Honorable Commissioner for Tourism, Art and Culture, Lagos State, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf, welcomed the group to the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture, stating that she’s well familiar with LCCI and its unrelenting efforts in building the bridge between the private sector and the government. She stated that I believe we are going to have a wonderful relationship going forward.
The Honorable Commissioner started off with the ultimate plan of Lagos Tourism Master Planand made a reassuring reference to her speech at the recent launched of the Master Plan, that that this will not be one of those booklet that will be kept under the table, stating that ahead of the launching there was already a well prepared implementation process of the document, that is not a document that came by mistake, it’s a child (The Master Plan) of necessity that we are passionate about and that ever since the public presentation , much more has already been done.
Mrs Akinbile-Yusuf explained that, the government has no business in doing business in Tourism, but to create an enable environment for the private sector to thrive and create job opportunity for the public. She also stated that the government is there to engage and dialogue with the private sector to ensure that their business is thriving very well, and that this can only be achieved when both the government and the private sector are on the same page in everything the government is trying to do, other than going through the enforcement process. She emphasized that, the government is only here to regulate and ensure that all practitioner are doing their business in a very conducive atmosphere.
The Hon. Commissioner stated that whenever a stakeholder’s meeting is called, the group should ensure that they send a representative to be part of the meeting, because it is at these meetings resolutions are reached for implementation. She said the government will never do anything on its own without putting the private sector into consideration at all time.
Talking about the Tourism Master Plan for Lagos state, the Hon. Commissioner explained that, it has six segments, which probably can be seen as a bulk volume document, she encouraged us to visit the Lagos State Tourism website to access some of this materials, and the ministry is open to positive inputs from reputable organizations like yours for the improvement of the master plan
The commissioner sighted example with the Farm Tour that was concluded few weeks back, that government is trying to open the mind of the public saying that Lagos state is ready for tourism which is the main mission behind the tour. With a tour guide, a tourist can move from one location to another location in Lagos seamlessly, if the day is properly planned.Stating how they move from Badagry to Epe, in a single day journey with lots of fun, they had night experience in Badagry beside the water, visited Nike Art-Gallery, etc, exploring both the water way and land. She said therefore Tour Operators should look inward for a package that is marketable in Lagos, she also mentioned that the ministry is ready to train people to actually understand Lagos.
One strategy she mentioned was that, they are planning to get celebrities to market some areas that will entice people to also love to visit. All these efforts is to open the business in Tourism and Hospitality for private sector to thrive in Lagos.
According to the Hon Commissioner, the Lagos state government through the ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture is promoting Community Based Tourism, this is part of the Tourism Master Plan, stating the today we have the five local government that is driving the Pilot scheme and they are doing very well.
She implore the group that anytime there is a stakeholders engagement, the group should not hesitate to send a representative, so that they could be part of any decision taken, stating that no one should be left behind, all gap to be closed and ensure that we use tourism to drive our economy, to improve our GDP and to create a lot of employment opportunity, as there is a lot of potentials in this tourism sector to be harnessed.
She ended her speech by saying, “once again I welcome you all to the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture Lagos state.”
Mrs Sally Ukpo, thanked the Hon Commissioner and stated that, the group will get copies of the master plans from the website and study it and discuss it. Also mentioned that we are still trying to bring in a lot of tourism players in the chamber into the Hotel and Tourism group.
Because what the chambers does that other association don’t do is the advocacy, they have the power, the connection and the interface with government to bring all the various issues, that might arise which people need to discuss. Stating that in Lagos state for example, the group and the government still need to discuss all the various modalities for regulating the hotels, taxations, etc. These and other things are what we will like to discuss next time we visit the ministry, so we can understand better how to work seamlessly with the government without any problems.
In his remark, the Chairman, Planning Committee, Prince Adetunji Fadina, thanked the Hon Commissioner for welcoming us, stating that it will be nice to synergies first with the Lagos State government, and at the same time inviting the Hon. Commissioner and the ministry to the chamber, so she can have a feel of the chamber and see what the chamber can do for her ministry. The committee chairman told the Hon. Commissioner, that we sincerely look forward to a sustainable relationship with you, and I can rest assured that the Chamber will play an active role working with you and making sure that our presence is felt in every of your functions once we are invited officially.
During the question and answer section, a member of the group, Mr Bimbo Johnson, asked the Hon. Commissioner when exactly is the next stakeholder’s meeting.
In her response the Hon. Commissioner asked the group to write the ministry requesting to be enlisted among the tourism stakeholders of the state, by so doing, the group will automatically get an invite whenever the stakeholders meeting will hold.
Mr. Johnson further asked the Hon commissioner to shed more light on the Community Based Tourism, and what role we can play as a group.
The Commissioner took her time to explain by saying, Tourism doesn’t start from the top. It starts from the grass-root. Many of the local governments have a lot of tourist sites they don’t even understand, they don’t know what to do with them, that is why the ministry made effort to share its vision with the local government chairmen. She further explain that she personally went to the local government to meet with the Chairmen, the CDAs, and the Baale to ask questions about their yearly activities. For example, the Epe, Ikorodu, it’s mostly about festivals, how can the private sector and the government participate. She made reference to some tourists in Cuba, and Brazil who just want to be part of our tradition and most of them are from Lagos, many of them want to come back to their root.
The Hon.Commissioner listed the pilot local governments for the community-based tourism, which are Epe, Ikorodu, Eti-Osa, Surulere, Badagry and Oshodi-Isolo. In her words, we sent our staff to get their festival dates, so we can capture them in our calendar so that can adequately market these festivals. She noted that there are some teething problems with some of the local governments, as they are yet to integrate the Community Tourism fully into their system, but with persistent and some perseverance, we know they will be able to share in the vision,what people doesn’t like is ‘Change’. But is far better than the way it was.
For example, the Commissioner made reference to the ‘Orisa day’ festival in Brazil, also the Oju-de Oba in Ijebu Ode, Ogun state, these are events that attract a lot of people and so much revenue is made from such events by the organizers yearly.
Mrs. Akinbile-Yusuf, said the whole idea of the Community Based Tourism, is for private sectors to come up with programs that can drive revenue, there should be souvenirs that tourism can buy and take home when they visit, like the ‘Eyo’, the ‘Hat of Lagos’ etc. These are where money exchange hands and jobs opportunities are also created.
She concluded by saying that the Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture, is here to create an enabling environment in accordance with the vision of the Governor of Lagos state Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Written By: Bimbo Johnson
NIGERIAN TRAVELS MAGAZINE.
(Member, Hotel & Tourism Group)
