By Donald Iorchir
Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCT) has said emphasis must to be placed on better service delivery if the country was to unbundle the tourism sector and make it a major revenue earner.
Minister of the Territory, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, stated this recently when a delegation from the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He said the complaint most people that “visit the country” made generally “is that the quality of service being provided is not good enough when compared to what is obtainable in other climes.”
“A lot of people get put off by the way we receive them at the airports, the way we treat them in the buses, the way treat them at the hotel reception points, the way we clean their rooms and the way we provide them service generally.
“I think if as Nigerians we are able to really improve on that aspect, it’s going to be a huge catalyst in trying to revamp and really get the full potential of the tourism sector,” he said.
Bello said operators in the sector must change their attitude towards service delivery by ensuring that the environment “is clean and available facilities work to optimum standards if they are to turn around the fortunes of the industry.”
“We have to work on service delivery. It’s not really the quality or sophistication of what we provide. Some of the places you go, you find that really, the furniture is simple, locally made, the buildings are locally made. But the facilities work. The cleanliness is emphasised.”
Bello reiterated the willingness of the FCT Administration to partner with the stakeholders in the tourism sector by making available accurate data of all tourist destinations in the FCT, as well as facilities for the training and retraining of manpower in the sector.
“The social secretariat will provide you with all what we have in terms of tourism sites in terms of facilities that we have that could serve as meeting points as you train; facilities that have some semblance of accommodation that you house
youngsters that you want to train for a week or two.”
The Director-General, NIHOTOUR, Mrs. Chika Balogun, said there was the need to reposition the FCT to “become a major destination that will attract conferences, not only within Nigeria, but from the West African sub-region, as well as the rest of the world.”
