By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
North-Central Zonal Coordinator, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), a Federal Government body, Madam Grace Ibu, has called on owners of hotels, tourism sites, night clubs and amusement parks to operate within the provisions of the law.
Speaking during the matriculation ceremony for fresh intakes of the institute’s 2024/2025 session, the Coordinator disclosed that there is an enabling law in place –the NIHOTOUR Establishment Act 2022 –which empowers NIHOTOUR to carry out such regulatory function, as Federal Government’s apex training and regulatory body for the sector.
“Our mandate is to train personnel, classify and register all hospitality and tourism outfits such as hotels, tourism sites, nightclubs and amusement parks,” she said.
Mrs Ibu added that she had already gone round to sensitize the affected organisations on the position of the law, revealing that NIHOTOUR would soon begin to classify and register all hospitality and tourism sites according to the standard of such facilities.
The Coordinator warned that a hotel must have at least 40 percent of its staff trained by NIHOTOUR, else such hotel would be sealed for not meeting the acceptable standards.
She called on hotel owners, tourism sites and nightclubs to avail their staff of the opportunity and get them trained at the institute to qualify to work in the industry.
Congratulating the matriculating students, the Coordinator appealed to them to be focused to aquire the required skills which would open doors of opportunities, adding that the institute’s objectives were economic development, human capacity building and infrastructural growth which, she stressed, aligns with the vision of the Benue state government.
Mrs Ibu called for government’s sponsorship of NIHOTOUR’s training of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Local Government staff and others.
In his welcome speech, the institute’s Student Affairs Officer, Mr. Patrick Abengowe, said that NIHOTOUR is a training institute established by the Federal Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in 1987 through a tripartite agreement involving the Federal Government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) with a mandate to train and develop Nigeria and West African region’s travel, hospitality and tourism industry operators’ manpower for capacity building.
He revealed that the institute operates a multi-campus system spread across the nation’s geo-political zones with that of the North Central zone sited in Makurdi.
The campus, he explained, caters for Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara, Kogi and Niger states.
The Director of Tourism, Ministry of Information Culture and Tourism, Mrs Alice Gbe, who stood in for the State Commissioner, Mr. Matthew Abo, appreciated the management of NIHOTOUR for their relentless efforts and promised to collaborate with the institute for better results.
Other speakers during the matriculation included the Director General, Benue Public Service Institute, Professor Terkura Tarnande; the Vice President, Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria, Mrs Susan Ioryisa and the National President, NIHOTOUR Alumni, Mr. Jonathan Justin Akem, among others, in their separate comments, appreciated the zonal management of NIHOTOUR and pledged to support the institute to attain greater heights.
The matriculated students were for Certificate, Diploma and Post-Graduate Diploma courses in Hospitality and Tourism and General Studies.
