The President of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Dr Aliyu Ajayi Badaki, has charged the Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Dr Abisoye Fagade, to focus more on training and capacity building in the sector, noting that these are core areas that would ultimately lead to standardisation, professionalism and attraction of more investors and operators into the sector.

This is as he also called on him to revisit the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between NIHOTOUR and the Hospitality and Tourism Management Association of Nigeria (HATMAN), stressing that the MoU, which was signed over 15 years ago and left in the cooler by subsequent administrators of the Institute, is meant to entrench training and capacity building in hospitality and tourism through partnership with HATMAN and NIHOTOUR.

Badaki gave these charges when he spoke as special guest during the one-day Annual Master Lecture Series of NIHOTOUR, which was held recently at Abuja. He commended the DG for sustaining the annual lecture series tradition, noting that it will further give traction to the Institute as a training and capacity building institute.

The choice of the theme: Advancing knowledge strengthening, capacity, and deepening professional standards within Nigeria Tourism and Hospitality Ecosystem, he said was seminal and timely, stressing that it captures the essence and mandate of the Institute.

To this, he charged the DG to focus more on this trajectory, working with relevant bodies and individuals in the hospitality and tourism ecosystem. He pledged the commitment of FTAN in working closely with the Institute’s leadership to achieve this onerous and desirous endgame by all the operators.

According to him, if NIHOTOUR properly harness the theme of the lecture series in line with its core mandate, that it will positively impact on the industry’s standards and ultimately leads to guest’s satisfaction and Return on Investment (RoI) to the investors.

He called on the DG to revamp the MoU signed by the Institute and HATMAN on joint training and capacity building, noting that if implemented it will further boost confidence in the sector and enhance the needed capacity and standards that everyone is clamouring for.

Badaki advised the Institute to organise more of the yearly lecture series to cover the six geo-graphical zones of the country.

On his part, Fagade expressed appreciation to Badaki for attending the event, and his charges. He noted that they are welcomed, promising that the Institute will take action on them. He then mandated his team on the spot to commence immediate planning to host the lecture series across the six zones of the country as advised by Badaki.

He reiterated the commitment of NIHOTOUR to its core mandate of training and capacity building, while stressing that standardisation of the industry in the areas of capacity building, and statistical data, among others, would be squarely addressed as well.

Fagade also paid tribute to the team led by Dr Edwin Enenta for organising the programme within such a short period of time.