Tourism practitioners and consultants from the South-South zone have again drawn the federal government’s attention to serious flaws in the National Tourism Master Plan as currently configured, adding that the drafters failed to take due consideration of the developmental needs of the south-south region, from where the bulk of Nigeria’s economy is produced.

They contended that the exclusion of the BRACED Commission states, comprising Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta, from the Nigeria Tourism Development Master Plan, was both illogical and insensitive on the part of the consultants that were commissioned to do draft, describing the omission as a deliberate ploy to disregard or neglect these key states in the course of configuring tourism cluster areas for accelerated national tourism development.

The position was made known in Benin City, the Edo State capital, in a press release signed by Messrs Andy Ehanire and Piriye Kitaramo, who are tourism practitioners and activists of Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) / West Africa Travel Union (WATU).

In the statement, they condemned the obvious oversight, reiterating that no consideration was given to the ecological devastation caused by oil exploration and consequent obliteration of local economic activities in the region, stressing that tourism development ought to be one of the safeguards for a sustainable future after the oil wells eventually run dry.

“Furthermore, given the kaleidoscope of peoples and cultures with renowned historical civilisations, such as the legendary Benin Empire that manifested in diverse monuments, priceless artifacts and art, it is embarrassing to observe that no consideration was given to these national assets in the Nigerian Tourism Development Master Plan”, they posited.

Mr Ehanire and Kiyaramo, pointed out that the diverse ecological and geographical landscapes of the south-south region, in the form of rivers, creeks, pristine lowland/mangrove forests, wet lands, beaches and marine ecosystems, were more than adequate bounties to be captured in the national tourism development master plan.

They observed with dismay that the national tourism master plan provides for three tourism clusters for the Northern states of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, with the South-East and South-West, having one cluster each, while the South-South has no visible mention in the master plan.

“We therefore, consider it imperative for the federal government to urgently create a sixth Tourism Cluster to assuage the apparent shortchanging of the BRACED States/Niger Delta Region, in the Nigerian Tourism Development Master Plan. The historical, cultural and ecological endowments of the Zone should rightly form the hub of a viable accelerated tourism development, which should have as take-off Pilot Schemes in the development of a Culture based Resort in Benin City and a Petroleum Museum at Oloibiri, in Bayelsa State”. They further stressed.

The duo noted that the Niger Delta Regional Master Plan also highlighted the need for tourism pilot schemes as a means for boosting the region’s economy.

They observed that several promises have been made by successive tourism ministers in order to assuage the apparent shortchanging of these contiguous states, which collectively produce the greatest chunk of Nigeria’s economic mainstay, urging the new Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, High Chief Edem Duke to give urgent attention the issue.

In this regard, the stakeholders also proposed that a consortium of indigenous tourism experts be commissioned to design the new Tourism Cluster for the South-South zone, with the incorporation of the NEPAD Tourism Action Plan for community based enterprises, adding that such actions, when incorporated, would significantly translate into concrete manifestation of  the Transformational Agenda of the Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration at the grassroots, leading to civic renewal, job creation and poverty alleviation.

They also spoke in tandem with Chief Edem Duke, on the need for the domestication of the Nigeria Tourism Development Master Plan to such extent that it takes full cognizance of the special developmental needs of the people.

They called on Developmental Agencies, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and the BRACED Commission, to urgently key into these programmes to be able to impact positively on grassroots.

Andy Ehanire and Piriye Kiyaramo, who are also tourism consultants, expressed their willingness to assembly a team of indigenous tourism experts with capacity and multi-disciplinary skills to fill the apparent gaps in indigenous technical capacities required in the design of a new tourism cluster and the domestication of the National Tourism Master Plan by states.