The National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), under Nura Sani Kangiwa has been hailed for its remarkable transformation.
In a press statement, Joesef Karim, the Head of the Research and Development Unit at NIHOTOUR, said the Director General has dramatically improved the Institute’s fortunes.
According to him, NIHOTOUR is now the most visible and the leading tourism and hospitality agency of the Federal Government in Nigeria.
“In 4 years, from September 2020 to August 2024, the Management of NIHOTOUR, led by Nura Kangiwa, has significantly repositioned the Institute by implementing innovative tourism training regimes for the tourism industry’s capacity development.
“The Management also introduced tourist host community vocational skills acquisition programmes for indigent residents to make a living by providing local tourist services for visitors through niche tourism entrepreneurship.
“In the last years, some of the headline achievements of the revived NIHOTOUR include upgrading and expansion of campuses, from 8 in 2020 to 12 by 2024; introduction of Gastronomy tourism studies and annual festival in Nigeria to facilitate better cultural tourism destinations; innovation and implementation of Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship Program, popularly called STEP, a hospitality trades and tourism skills transfer programmes targeting rural host communities.”
He added that the period also saw sustained tourism and hospitality train-the-trainer programmes for local instructors across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones, the awakening of Nigerian food tourism through the hosting of elaborate ‘NaijaFoods’ at public and private sector events to share knowledge of the country’s cuisines’ competitiveness, amongst other things.
He further said the DG has established a formidable Management team that has, in 4 years, transformed an obscure tourism training centre into a national and internationally recognised hospitality and tourism enterprise education citadel in West Africa.
“It has been part of these 5% charges that NIHOTOUR deploys to execute specialised tourism and hospitality training programs and provide various interventions and support for tourism private sector organisations.
“Nura Sani Kangiwa’s advent and records of successes as the Director General of NIHOTOUR are second to none in the Institute’s 35 years. He has established a formidable Management team that has, in 4 years, transformed an obscure tourism training centre into a national and internationally recognised hospitality and tourism enterprise education citadel in West Africa,” he added.
