…pledges to set up committee to review Acts, submissions
The Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musa Musawa, has waded into the brewing crises in Nigerian tourism, with a pledge to resolve the discontent arising from the establishment Acts of the two tourism parastatals under her ministry; National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) Act 2022 and that of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) Act 2023; working with the private sector operators, heads of the two agencies and other concerned stakeholders.
This followed a meeting hosted by her recently to address the concerns of the private sector operators led by the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) on the two Acts, which they said totally undermine their interest, tourism development and existing laws, as the two Acts claimed overreaching and conflicting powers beyond their hitherto statutory powers.
FTAN’s position
Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), in its position paper presented by its President, Dr Aliyu Ajayi Badaki, commended the federal government for what it described as, ‘‘recognising the need to strengthen the operational and institutional framework of tourism with hospitality development and practice as an integral part in Nigeria with the two Acts named above enacted in 2022.’’
It then went ahead to state its concerns regarding the two Acts and offered some recommendations for consideration by the Minister. ‘‘This position paper therefore, provides details of the Federation’s comments, critical concerns and possible recommendations on both Acts with the aim of fostering clarity and ensuring harmonious collaboration between the public and private sectors in the effort at driving tourism development agenda in Nigeria under the President’s Renewed Hope agenda for Nigeria,’’ it noted.
NTDA Acts 2022
On the Nigerian Tourism Development Act 2022, some of the areas of concern raised by FTAN include: that the NTDA Act of 2022, empowers the Authority to regulate tourism activities and also operate as a commercial entity as tour operators, convention and bureau centre just as running consultancy and thereby competing directly with the private sector and this needs to be addressed to avoid disruptive conflicts;
Section 6 (c) empowers NTDA to also train and regulate; introduction of new levies of 1% of hotel room tax and others amount to multiple taxation; clear duplication of roles by NTDA and the state governments, which has already been resolved by the Supreme Court judgement of July 2013, on residual and exclusive list declaration; and ambiguity in the Tourism Development Fund (TDF).
On it broader recommendations, FTAN noted; ‘‘While we may not be in a position to contest the enactment of a law for the NTDA, we would, however, advise and recommend the following for immediate remediation: That the NTDA should focus attention on the big picture of policy formulation, destination marketing, Product Development, Investment Facilitation, and creating an encouraging enabling environment for doing Tourism business;
Training, capacity development and regulation of business and practice in any country and Nigeria inclusive has always been the functions of private sector activities and voluntary after the initial evidence of business registration, certification and evidence of attended school certification from universities, polytechnics and other training institutions inclusive of National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) in Nigeria and should be expunged immediately from the functions of NTDA except for the development of the staff of the Authority;
Government organisations are not expected to engage in commercial activities of making glaring profit, therefore, all commercial activities designated as functions of NTDA should be removed immediately to avoid glaring conflicts except farmed through Private Party Partnership (PPP);
The modalities for the funding and operations of the Tourism Development Fund must be revisited as the current provisions are vague and ambiguous. The benefits to Alliance Members and funding modalities must also be clearly spelt out through necessary consultations with the private sector;
The Board of the NTDA must have strong representation of the private sector operators inclusive of the standing committees on issues that concern the industry but not necessarily on their day to day official activities of the Authority;
The Federation of Tourism Association, as a strategic partner, should be adequately and strategically involved in policy creation and implementation; and
The formulation, implementation and execution of tourism policies are required to be done through collaboration rather than coercion and without prejudice in view of the Supreme Court judgment of 2013.
NIHOTOUR Act 2022
Some of the areas of concern include: That of NIHOTOUR registering and re-certify professionals who have passed through accredited academic programmes of other higher academic institutions accredited by the National Universities Commission, and National Board for Technical Education as provided in the functions of NIHOTOURS in Part 1, section 1(a-d) and part I, section I(a-i) respectively;
Provisions are generally against industrial procedures and standards making it inoperable without the resultant conflicts and confusion as witnessed today;
Double identity of an academic institution (see – part II section 14-17, section 4 (a-v) and section 5 (3a-k) as well as a training, certification and regulatory authority (see – Part I section 1 (a-d) and Part 5 section 1 (a-i), which is naturally unacceptable in civilised societies;
Compulsory registration of practitioners that are far more qualified professionals for re-certification is never a reasonable provision except meant for registered professional bodies in the industry to ensure that academic graduates are in sync with industry standards and fit- Part 5 section 1 (a-i);
Making punitive measures and criminalisation of default, a function of any academic institution is surely an overkill, an aberration and even the setting up of a Tribunal to try defaulters is a misnomer and against the Constitution and common sense (Part Vii sections 39,40,41,42,43,44 and Part Viii section 45, and Part IX section 46 in totality;
Conflicting provisions with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Tourism Development Authority, National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education, industry professional bodies and many other agencies of government.
Following the areas of concern raised, it therefore, recommended; ‘‘All conflicting areas of the supposed Act inclusive of registration, regulation, and certification of professionals and practitioners must be reviewed and removed without further delay as this undermines the role of higher academic institutions and professional bodies in the industry.
‘‘National Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) must remain strictly on its workforce/manpower development agenda to train vocational skills for the industry. Organisations such as CMD, ASCON, Law School, Institute of Legal Studies and NIPSS are critical examples to follow.
‘‘The Ministry should facilitate the enabling environment and necessary cooperation with the National Assembly to enact Acts for the necessary aspects of the business to carry out such functions of regulation, regularisation and certification on voluntary basis for career progression.’’
NTDA’s presentation
The Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), which was represented at the meeting by the Acting Director General, Richard Ovie Esewhaye, gave details of the functions of NTDA and that of NIHOTOUR, drawing parallel and areas of conflicts and concluded with a recommendation to the effect to critically re-examining both Acts to harmonise areas of conflicts.
In his summation, he stated; ‘‘NTDA’s role is to regulate the “what” and the “where” of tourism, focusing on the businesses, facilities, and overall market. NIHOTOUR’s role is to regulate the “who” and the “how” of tourism, focusing on the people and their professional competence.’’
Given the above, he added; ‘‘accordingly, NIHOTOUR should restrict its regulatory roles to personnel only.’’
Esewhaye further disclosed; ‘‘The current operational practices of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), particularly those outlined in its proposed regulations, are not aligned with the government’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” for Ease of Doing Business.
‘‘This misalignment is evident in the perceived duplication of functions and the imposition of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens on industry stakeholders.
‘‘The existing collaboration between the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for the registration of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises (HTEs) further highlights the redundancy of new, parallel processes. CAC registers businesses and not personnel.
He then went ahead to draw attentions to areas of concern that urgently need to be addressed. These are; Multiple Standards; Duplication of core functions; Multiple taxation; Regulatory conflict; Erosion of ease of doing business;
He concluded by noting; ‘‘In the diligent exercise of our distinct yet symbiotic statutory functions, our primary objective is to ensure that NIHOTOUR’s mandate is correctly applied to human capital development without usurping the functions of other agencies.
‘’This approach will prevent the creation of an unnecessary burden on the private sector, aligning our collective efforts with national economic goals.’’
Endnote
Although there was no communique issued at the end of the one-day meeting, the Minister, after listening to all the presentations by the various stakeholders and her two tourism parastatals, stated that the Ministry would look at the various submissions and constitute a committee to review them, after which a larger stakeholder meeting will be called to consider the review and further action to bring about sanity and harmony in the operations of the two parastatals for the benefit of the private sector operators and the nation.
‘‘The Ministry will sit down and critically look at the NTDA and NIHOTOUR laws and the positions papers in today’s meeting with the aim of producing something truly beneficial for both the private sector and the government. If necessary, we will not hesitate to take the laws back to the National Assembly for further review,’’ Musawa said.
She added: ‘‘In addition, a wider stakeholder forum will be convened to present a final position.’’
She then prevailed on all the parties involved in the matter, including NIHOTOUR, to stay further action pending when the matter is resolved. Musawa also mentioned the need to make sacrifices and compromises where necessary in order to achieve cohesion and progress in the sector.
