President Bola Tinubu has been asked by the national council for arts and culture (NCAC) to establish a stand-alone ministry of tourism and culture.
According to NCAC director-general, Olusegun Runsewe, the establishment of the ministry will help bridge the tourism communication gap between private and public sectors.
He said the federal ministry of information and culture, as presently constituted, is too large.
The director-general said managing public information in a large nation like Nigeria is too enormous to be combined with providing leadership for the culture and tourism sector.
“The federal government should therefore see to the possibility of creating a stand-alone ministry of culture and tourism,” NAN quoted Runsewe as saying.
“It is my conviction that a stand-alone ministry of culture and tourism is an idea whose time has come.
“In all the countries such as Spain, France, USA and South Africa, where tourism is a serious business with huge economic returns, the sector is populated with professionals who know the global technicalities of tourism.
“The federal government should therefore see to the possibility of creating a stand-alone ministry of culture and tourism,” NAN quoted Runsewe as saying.
“It is my conviction that a stand-alone ministry of culture and tourism is an idea whose time has come.
“In all the countries such as Spain, France, USA and South Africa, where tourism is a serious business with huge economic returns, the sector is populated with professionals who know the global technicalities of tourism.
“They are also able to adopt that knowledge to meet the peculiar realities of their environments.
“In Nigeria, tourism business appears to be an all-comers affair. If anybody who has the means can wake up overnight to set up a tourism business, how do we expect the sector to move forward?
“No matter what you communicate, as long as it is not profit maximisation, such people will never understand or flow with it.”
He called on the media to set the agenda of national discourse in line with global best practices.
“The media should take it upon themselves to inform and mobilise all stakeholders in the industry to take the required step in adopting the right approach toward building a dynamic tourism sector for Nigeria,” he said.