Chairman of Traditional
Rulers Council and Amanyanabo of Opobo Kingdom, King Dandeson Jaja V. has tasked governments at all levels to exploit the huge potentials in tourism, in order to diversify the country’s economy.
He made the call when he played host to culture and tourism experts at the Traditional Rulers Council Secretariat in Port Harcourt at the Weekend.
King Jaja stated that since the country has abundant tourism potentials, effort should be made by governments to use it to earn revenue rather than relying on oil.
“We have so much of tourism resources in Rivers State that could be harnessed. India and Kenya are making a lot of revenue from tourism”, he submitted.
He reasoned that one way to achieve this is to revive and develop the various tourist sites that dot parts of the state, such that tourists will be attracted to visit and see the rich culture of the people.
The Chairman of the Rivers State Traditional Rulers Council also said that more archeological excavations should be made saying, “people want to see what had happened before and visit these sites”.
Aside revenue, he stated that tourism also can boost the country’s diplomatic relations as people from other countries will come to tour the country and get exposed to the rich cultural heritage of the people
While commending the group for the visit, the Opobo monarch urged them to intensify their efforts to sensitize government and the populace on the need to exploit tourism.
He pledged the support of the council to the vision and objectives of the culture and tourism experts, promising that their proposal for the establishing a museum in palaces of first class traditional rulers in the state will be presented to the state government for study and approval.
Earlier in his speech, leader of the group and Chairman of Brooklyn Tourist Centre, Chief Mike Amachree, noted tourism development has become imperative during this period the country was facing, economic down turn as a result of oil price fall.
Chief Amachree stressed that government and the private sector can partner  to formulate a new blueprint, “the only area where government comes in is to provide the needed infrastructure and superstructures and the enabling environment for the private to operate”.