New Telegraph Admin 
Father of Tourism in Nigeria, Chief Mike Amachree, has welcomed the creation of a stand-alone Ministry of Tourism by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He de- scribed Commending the president for what he said a step in the right direction, noting that it was a ‘‘bold and progressive decision.’’
Amachree, a former President of Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN), and the proprietor of Brooklyn Group of Hotels, said he was happy that the government heeded his call alongside other stakeholders for a stand-alone ministry. He said, “Before the former President Olusegun Obasanjo created the tourism ministry in 1999, I, as the then President of ATPN, and other industry practitioners, were at the forefront of the clamour for the creation of the ministry.
‘‘Obasanjo heeded to our call and created the ministry. However, for over eight years when the tourism ministry was scrapped by former President Muhammadu Buhari administration, Nigeria lost a lot of grounds in the area of tourism development. We continued to clamour for the reversal of that decision. We thank President Tinubu for listening to us. “You see, tourism is the biggest provider of jobs in the country. All airlines, transportation, and movements of all kinds are under tourism. You can see the number of agents these people are employing.
Talking about foreign exchange earnings, maybe apart from petroleum, no other sector can attract more foreign exchange than tourism. If we plan our tourism well, people will to Nigeria to visit our tourist attractions. “ W i t h this new development, it is time for us to put more efforts to d e v e l o p our tourist sites like m u s e u m and other attractions to bring in t o u r i s t s .
This is where the tourism ministry becomes key.” The business mogul and tourism technocrat also congratulated the new tourism minister Ms. Lola Ade-John on her appointment. He urged her to hit the ground running so that the industry can catch up with the rest of the world in the area of tourism development.
He called on the new minister to carry the private sector tourism practitioners along in policy formulation and implementation. This, he said, was the only way she could succeed. Noting that, “All over the world, tourism is private sector driven because tourism is business.
While the government makes the law and policies, it is the private sector that do the business of tourism. If the minister carries the private sector along in her policy formulation and implementation, it will be implemented seamlessly with no hiccup.’’
