The Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) says the scarcity of the American dollar has become a worrisome threat to the survival of the tourism industry, related enterprises in Nigeria and third world economies.
\nDirector General, NTDC, Chief Foluronsho Coker, said this during a breakfast meeting in Lagos on Saturday.
\nCoker likened the dollar position,\u00a0 particularly its scarcity, as another COVID-19 pandemic, which had affected the fabric of goods and services in Nigeria in recent times.
\n\u201cThe dollar has ravaged our industry, from aviation fuel, spare parts purchases, hospitality and recreation services,\u00a0 transportation, logistics and the entire national economic architecture.
\n\u201cThis currency has assumed a scarcity presence and snuffing life of the tourism sector,\u201d he said.
\nCoker, who also spoke on Nigerian festivals, pleaded that the process and engagement should not have political colouration and undertone to avoid polluting the heritage value chain.
\n\u201cI am going on a road show in the south west to appeal to the traditional rulers to hold on to what is true, enduring and beneficial to the growth of our festivals.
\n\u201cWe should not pollute our local festivals and do not turn festival grounds to political podiums leading to violence,\u201d he said.
\nThe NTDC DG who was part of the Osun-Oshogbo Festival, which ended on Friday,\u00a0 informed that Nigeria must not lose sight of the unification process which various festivals in the country desired to promote.
\nHe berated the disturbing tribal and religious sing song which was fast eating up the fabrics of national unity and cohesion.
\n\u201cWe grew up in Nigeria not concerned about where anyone comes from, your dialect or those things which irritate relationships.
\n\u201cWe saw ourselves as neighbours, family and friends, so I wonder at the divisions and acrimonies over ethnic and religious sentiments which unfortunately is eroding the fabric of national unity,\u00a0 peace and development,\u201d he said.
\nCoker commended\u00a0 the Lagos State Government for reintroducing History and Culture studies in its schools, noting that it was a welcome healing process that should remain.
\nHe said this will go a long way in teaching and educating children about the richness of Nigerian cultural tourism history and tradition.He urged state governments to emulate the intervention to the benefit of the country unification process and cohesion.
\n\u201cAt NTDC, we will help give our people hope and faith in Nigeria, indeed, these are difficult times and people are worried about tomorrow, tourism businesses bleeding. But, we shall preach hope,\u00a0 stand in gap, lift up depressed minds even though we don\u2019t have all the resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) says the scarcity of the American dollar has become a worrisome threat to the survival of the tourism industry, related enterprises in Nigeria and third world economies. Director General, NTDC, Chief Foluronsho Coker, said this during a breakfast meeting in Lagos on Saturday. Coker likened the dollar position,\u00a0 particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289468,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-301951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301968,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301951\/revisions\/301968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/289468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}