Aare Abisoye Fagade appointed the Director general and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu few months ago. In this first interview with Africa Travel Herald (ATH), he talked about his vision for the institute and his desire to register every tourism practitioner in the country. Excerpts:

What is the mandate of NIHOTOUR?

It is simple:  we are supposed to identify, register, certify, and train, if possible, all the personnel the hospitality and tourism business. Immediately I joined in, I realized that it is a huge job that I can’t do by myself. And  I were to reach all these people, how do we do all these? Like every other parastatal, fund is never available, but that has never been a barrier for me.  So, tomorrow, as the first step, Christmas is coming early. We are starting off with the national registration of all personnel free of charges, between now and January 15. If you work with the hotels, night clubs, within tourism environment as a waiter, room cleaner, manager, all the personnel at any level, we are pleading for them to go on our website and register for free.  At least, that is a way of identifying ourselves, like let’s know you.

So, in my first week I am announcing that we are starting registration and we are being benevolent with it.  We are doing it this time around for free.  We are not asking anybody for a dime.  We are saying come around, let us know you.  That is where we are starting. And in my four years, we will make sure that we bring standard to the industry. And to bring standard and sanity, you know what it in tells It is a lot of work.  I will unfolding a lot of things as we go along, but the biggest one right now is that from first of December, you are allowed to come and register on our platform for free.  If you don’t register between now and 15th of January (2025), after that time, we will now ask you for money.  That is that, and that is where we are.

When practitioners register, are there benefits to it?

Also, a lot of times we keep talking about tourism and its ability to drive economic growth, most times these are mere rhetoric because we don’t walk the talk.

So, what are you going to be doing differently, and what are the things you met on ground that you may want to continue?

First thing first, what I met on ground that I am going to continue with, I met good personnel on ground, people who are creative,  intelligent, and are willing to work. That I am inheriting and using.  Two, what am I bringing to the table? I am bringing myself, leadership to the table. I am going to be leading from the front.

If you read our act very well, I don’t have any business with hotels. Hotel is just a warehouse for our personnel, and I deal with the personnel, not with the hotels. There is a lot of training gaps that we are going to be filling.

I keep telling people, tourism is a social bitcoin. If you do not tap into it now, you are sleeping on the bike.  We have not even started with tourism in Nigeria. When we start, the madness of I can’t get a job will be erased in this country.  Easily people can understand that with their certification, they can create something. There will be job creation, a lot of jobs will be created. And we are opening up in all the 36 states of this country. It is IGR for the country.

And talking about continuity, if you have a good structure on ground, like Asiwaju is doing right now, he is building structure. We are going to build strong structure that will be difficult to discontinue when I leave.  You saw the way I counted my days. I said I have three years and 51 weeks left.  From the day I took that job, I am already counting the day I am going out.

So we want to start with the foundation, which is registration, knowing people that we are going to be working with. We are building a solid foundation for NIHOTOUR, and it will enhance continuity.

I want to look at what your trying to do, you mentioned those in the hospitality business. There are also those in the eateries, tour operators, and also travel agencies. Are all these people also included in the registration?

I said all. It is all inclusive, everybody has to go online and register. From the agents, the air hostesses, because at some point, you would not be able to fly into Nigeria if you are not NIHOTOUR certified as an airline hostess.  We will get there, and the kind of money we are going to be generating from there will be huge.

So, the idea is to have a data of hospitality personnel…

To start with… If they don’t bring it, we will collect if by force, eventually, they will bring it. But what we are saying is that we are all good citizens of this country, Nigerians will register I know.  It is needed; it is long overdue in this country.  That segment needs standardization; that what we are going to do. 

What would you say to those people who may think this is another way by government to get more money from them? Like some would say, what you don’t know, does not know you.

First let me tell you, there is nothing that government wants to know that it does not know. Secondly, how do we curb insecurity in the country if we don’t know the practitioners? How can they benefit if we don’t know the practitioners.  What is the need for them right now; the good thing is that they can identify with that industry. At the end of the day, Nigerians like free things; we can’t build this country on freebies. I also understand that things are hard, that is why we are saying at NIHOTOUR we will not charge you for now. Normally, registration should have a cost.  Things are a bit tough in the country right now that is why we say don’t pay anything to us (for a start).  Whether Nigerians like it or not, the law has mandated us to do those things. We must do them; we are acting based on the law. The law is already there, we are putting it into0 full fledge use. So, whether they come to register or not… For example, the property that we are in right now is in Lagos. Let’s say we have a Lagos State coordinator, Lagos State coordinator has local government coordinator, and the Local government coordinator has people that are going round. And they identify this place as a place engaged in hospitality business. They can work in and know the number of people that are here.  I know Nigerians, it wouldn’t be asey, but we generally do what needed to be done.

After you appointment, quite a number people know, but many would ask, what is his pedigree, what has be done in the hospitality industry to be appointed to this position? Can you share with us your track record when it comes to tourism and hospitality?

I’m glad you asked that question.  Aside from my pedigree, what I am bringing to the table  is my excellent managerial skills. I am a manager of men.  And if you are a manager of men, you can work anywhere successfully.  The good thing about the ministry as a director general is that all you have to is make decisions.  You have professionals around you that would guide and shape your thoughts for you to have a proper direction if you’re a smart man. I am smart man. That is my number one pedigree.  That the top most of my pedigree.

The second of it is that over the years, I have done a lot with tourism.  I have worked with more than six or seven culture and tourism promotional as a consultant: Kwara, Lagos, Oyo, and Lagos states over the years.

One of them is when we created the Ibom Golf Course in Akwa Ibom. That is one project that people thought it was not going to be something. I was one of the people working with the former governor Obong Victor Attah then to bring in the international golfers for resort. And Today, till tomorrow, that property is still one of the best in Nigeria.

In Lagos State here, for over four to six, or seven years, we worked directly with the commissioners for tourism as consultants. I have done a lot of things in tourism and culture. 

With my own fund, I was so passionate about Nigeria in 2010, I went to London, the Nottinghill  Carnival just to see what is happening there. I realized that Nigerians, all of us, we go to Obalende Suya, we just sit down there, police would come and they would scatter us. So, why can’t we have a proper Naija corner? I singlehandedly funded that. I started Naija Corner in London officially.  I was the one that paid with my money. I took artistes from Nigeria; I started exporting them from Nigeria, to play free shows at the carnival. Overtime, people hijacked that. Somebody saw that it was an opportunity to get sponsors. So, they started Nigerian Corner. So, when people were now going , I was like I won’t do this. This is just a distraction for me. A loy more like that I can mention.  I have a chain of hotels.

Then over the years, I have done experiential marketing for close to 25 years, that is what I have done all my life.  I work with global agencies, from SO & U, Satchi and Satchi and so on. I have toured the 36 states of this country in a car in 1999/2000 when I worked with Indomie. I was moving from state to state. I can I am one of the few Nigerians that have been to all the states in this country.

So, I don’t know what you call pedigree, for me, the most important pedigree is that I am a manager of men.  I know how to put my resources to use.