61st UNWTO-CAF Meeting: Minister Inspects Venue, Expresses Satisfaction With Nigeria’s Preparations

A group photograph of delegates after the opening ceremony of 61st meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa at the Transcorp Hotel Abuja.on Monday .
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
(fourth from right); Representative of Mr. President and Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha (third on the
right); Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism (UNWTO), Mr. Zurab
Pololikashvili (second right), Chairman Commission for Africa of the
UNWTO, Mr. Najib Balala (fifth left) and other delegates

By Peter Usman;

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has expressed satisfaction with the level of preparations for Nigeria’s hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, UNWTO Commission for Africa, CAF Meeting 4-6 June, 2018 in Abuja,the nation’s capital.

The Minister gave the assessment when he inspected venues of the event at the Transcorp Hotel, Abuja..

“I am very satisfied and I want to use this opportunity to thank the Committee and the various Sub-Committees that have been responsible for this arrangement. We have been working very closely with the management of Transcorp in the last two and a half months, and we are satisfied with what we have seen.

“So what we have come to do is just to ascertain that everything is in place and adjust what is necessary, and you can see that we have made some adjustments because we looked at how practical the arrangements are,” he said.

Mohammed used the occasion to highlight the giant strides of the Buhari Administration, especially in the area of fighting insecurity.

The Minister said Nigeria will use the opportunity offered by the meeting to tell the world that the country is at peace and that it is ready to host the world, particularly having recorded tremendous success in defeating the insurgency, revamping the economy and improving governance.

“It’s a global platform for you to tell your own story and what story are we telling? We are telling the world that in the last couple of years, especially three years, Nigeria has been on the mend.

“We made tremendous progress in our fight against insecurity. We have made progress in revamping the economy and in governance. But for the efforts of this government in the area of fighting insecurity, nobody will be hosting this meeting here,” he said.

Mohammed said since culture drives tourism, Nigeria will also use the occasion to showcase its rich and diverse culture.

He listed some of the cultural performances billed to feature at the event as the Seki Dance Drama from the South-South; Bolanle Austen-Peter’s ‘Fela and the Kalakuta Queens’, the Ikemini drummers from Akwa Ibom State and the Virgin Dance from Ebonyi State.

The Minister, who was accompanied by Deaconess Grace Isu-Gekpe, and some management staff of the ministry, said at least 180 foreign delegates, including 26 Tourism Ministers from Africa and the entire secretariat of the UNWTO, have confirmed their participation at the three-day event.