ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA 
A new dawn is on the horizon for Nigerian tourism when it comes to maintaining standards and quality as the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), which is responsibility for standards have pledged to work together to uphold international best practice in the country. This commitment was given both parties after a session following the visit by FTAN, which is the private sector tourism operators, executive members led by its President, Nkereuwen Onung, paid a visit to SON’s Director General, Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso and his team at the Abuja headquarters of the organization.
Speaking after the meeting, Onung disclosed that the Federation will continue to partner with Standard Organisation of Nigeria to maintain international best practices in the tourism sector in Nigeria. He expressed appreciation to SON for the level of collaboration and support the private sector has previously enjoyed. This is as he looked to enhanced partnership between the Federation and SON. Onung stated that the collaboration has given Nigeria a great opportunity to chair one of the prestigious seats in the ARSO TC, with Onung currently serving as co-chair with his counterpart from Uganda. Six Nigerians have also been newly elected into the positions of conveners and secretaries of the technical committee sub-groups.
This development, he noted was made possible as a result of the good working relationship between the private sector and SON. He further noted that the duty of conformity and compliance is not very easy, especially in the face of corruption be- deviling various sectors of the economy. How- ever, he strongly believes that with the new management of the organisation, things will be done right and results achieved within a short time. He promised the support and collaboration of the private tourism sector in the upcoming conference to be organised by the Standard Organisation next month.
While SON’s DG thanked the tourism practitioners for the visit and promised that the cordial relationship FTAN has been enjoying with his predecessors will not stop in his time rather he will improve on it. The DG disclosed that the Organisation has set up a Conformity Assessment desk in his office to encourage the tourism sector and see how they can match up with their counterpart from other countries of the world in terms of Standards. “It is believed that the services of SON is more for manufacturers rather it is also for the service industries like tourism and hospitality.” He promised to ensure that every sector of the economy feels the impact of the Organisation.
According to him, the proposed conference will allow SON to interface with tourism practitioners and proffer solutions to some of the challenges in the industry especially in the area of standardisation. He thanked FTAN for the visit and gave the assurance that the tourism industry will begin to benefit from a lot of support from SON.
