The world tourism day, slated to annually occur on the 27th of September every year, however to commemorate this year’s celebration, Events has been scheduled to occur in Enugu state, South-eastern part of Nigeria on the 26th and 27th of September 2020.

Intimating UGAMATV on the scheduled events was Mr. Wilson Uche Ugwu, the CEO of I-tour Africa, a Tourism expert with several qualifications, including years of active service and experience in the Local and international tourism Sector.

During an exclusive interview with UGAMATV’s CHIDINMA MADU on the program “Spotlight”, Ugwu explained most of the innumerable positive effects of tourist sites located in the rural areas on the economy and standard of living of rural dwellers.

It is said that this year’s world tourism day is a chance to recognize the worlds tourist attractions outside the big cities, is tourism really integrated in the rural communities

For me to answer this question, I will have to approach it very critically, it requires a whole lot for the government to do to be able to drive investors to go to those areas, having said that we are actually acting as middle-man between the government and the prospective investors, our passion for tourism, is to be able to convince an will-be investor to see reasons to invest, also to advice the government to create an enabling environment, there are certain things required to be done, there are certain things that we ought to do, before an investor becomes willing to come, number one is adequate security, nobody wants to invest in an area of insecurity, I think the government has done so much in that aspect, in the sense that Enugu has been rated as one of the most peaceful and secured states in Nigeria.

Secondly, there has to be an understanding between the government and the community, there has been a situation, whereby the community seems to have lost control over the attraction and they tend to be restive, so, government should make that place conducive, to save the investor from having issues with the host community, also create Waver, that waver comes after a law has been instituted, such law, saves you from certain taxes once investment has been made in tourism, this makes the package very attractive, I assure you that we have lots and lots of investors who are ready to key into it, the world is seriously moving towards tourism.

What are the benefits of tourism to the rural populace

It mitigates rural-urban migration, it reduces it to the barest minimum, it also attracts development, when you find a situation whereby, for instance, the Awhum water falls, it was being controlled by the missionaries, when government approached there, people started investing, people started building houses, resorts around there, which in turn created job opportunities, this is called Direct and indirect effects, it even availed the opportunity for a village petty trader to display her wares for sale with the possiblity of more customers, hence she’s been empowered both directly and indirectly, more money is moved to the rural areas, some people who ordinarily would not have accessed certain facilities, would begin to have them. So it’s very important, we are looking forward that we will begin to, most government, especially state government in Nigeria will begin to look that direction.

There was a former existence of wildlife conservation in the state, I’d like to know, if it still exists, also does the government have plans to venture in this area

Of course there are plans, though I am not the mouth piece of the government, I am previously under the notion that there are certain investors whom already approached the government, remember that this isn’t the first time when the government gets approached by investors, some only turn out to be fake, only quite a few became real and genuine, while the others are only schemes to exploit the government. Seeing it from the positive angle, if an investor is interested in doing that, I am personally not happy that they moved the Zoo that we had then, while I was growing up, we looked forward to visiting the Zoo, my parents took us to the Zoo, we’d watch the Crocodile, the very old Tortoise, the Gorrila, The Monkey, these gave us topics of interest and discuss. However, today, despite they genuity of their reasons of moving the Zoo, there have been development, and such thing can not be within people’s residence, they should have made adequate arrangements, government should seek the advice of field aspects before taking decisions concerning that field. That Zoo should have been moved, today Children of the year 1996 till date probably do not know the Enugu Zoo. Sometimes, I begin to wonder who actually advises the government and why are we doing this to ourselves, a city is not complete except it has all it takes to be called a city, Zoos and tourist attractions are part of what makes a city complete.

Are there platforms, Strategies and measures made available to ensure that all these tourist attractions are conveyed and portrayed to the outside world

Yes, of course, that’s where the media plays a big role, the government shows interest in what we call travel market, these are forums where exhibitions are made. Akwaba is an example of such platform, I am not here to advertise Akwaba, but Lots of Nigerians are happy to attend Akwaba, it’s one of the top traveling aides that we have, there we have experts coming around, as well as investors, Enugu should be prepared to participate in some of these tourist hunts, organize one and bring together investors to meet the environment, the government officials to talk about how to develop the place. Apart from the media, the travel market should be participated and engaged in, professionals help therein.

The tourism sector is one of the major sectors hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, is there anything that can be done to save such occurrence especially in the Tourism sector

Actually, it’s quite a pity that the world was taken unawares, we were sleeping when the COVID-19 came, I think we have learnt our lessons. A lot of persons were into international and intercultural tourism, where Nigeria has done nothing. If I tell you how much Nigerians spend on visits to Dubai, you’ll be shocked, when eventually, the COVID-19 came, and every where was on lockdown, people were caught off-guard, that was for the international tourism, we are talking about the local tourism, which is growing very speedily, remember that the first post pandemic tour hosted  in Nigeria was proudly organized by I-tour Africa, we need to restart Tourism.

With the gradual easing of the travel bans, there might be a re-occurrence, what are the preparations made towards observing the COVID-19 safety procedures, in the events of the 26th and 27th of September

Of course, knowing fully well that many things, we do especially in Nigeria, that government is participating, they make sure that they put in place the observation of all COVID-19 safety protocols, for us here, we have instructed that anyone coming out has to oblige all the protocols required, first, we must observe the Social distancing to an extent, we must all be in our masks, we also ensured that the public are adequately sensitized, we also ensured that medical and health measures are put in place, we will provide hand washing tools, water, bucket, detergent, soaps as well as hand sanitizers, for people to utilize them intermediately, I believe that will work.

Are there limited number of persons that will participate, like representatives

To a large extent, we will ensure that all that is required is done accordingly.

Tourism in these rural areas, how do you strategize to maintain the growth of these tourist sites on a long run without allowing it go into the shadow of itself

Thank you very much, this is exactly why we are in this business, we are here to proffer ways to ensure that there is sustainability, our Job is to liaise with the community, to secure the role of the community and the government. They say Charity begins at home, when an investor wants to invest in that place, the rural community especially the domiciliary community of these tourist sites, should be able to basically take care of the site, then while on it, the government steps in as a support, to augument their efforts, by ensuring that certain things they need are provided, for the proper lay on of the events on the 27th and 28th of September, we have discussed with the Omukwu community in Obelle-Agu Umana in Ezeagu, they took it upon themselves to clean up the whole place, they are going to set up the place for the celebration, they are also going to host the event, having done that, the community itself has shown some level of support and commitment for what they have, meaning that they are looking forward to receiving the visitors and the investors, that will engage them while the investors also engage the government.

Please can you highlight the event of the 27th and 28th of September

Yes, what we planned doing is to have a road walk, a tourism road walk, just to create awareness, not everybody knows these sites, even if I ask you now, you might not comfortably mention up to ten, but then this is in Enugu, yesterday I put up a challenge asking people to mention ten of the Enugu tourist sites, some were able to do it, some could not. Having said this, we are creating awareness, through the road walk, we are going to create more awareness using Fliers, where most of these sites are listed and then share it to everyone, what we intend doing first of all, for you to participate in what we are doing, you have to have knowledge of what we are doing.

Secondly, we planned having a symposium, though because of the time frame we have, we has to remove it, right now the only program we have for the 26th is the road walk, with the point of assemblage at Michael Okpara Square, from there we kick of the movement, we will move through government house, through some of the selected routes, with guide from government house, getting to Enugu tourism board. The next day, all road leads to Ezeagu waterfall, everyone goes there to catch fun. The entire community will roll out their drums, to welcome the visitors, there will be Masquerade display, comedy,  music and all of that.

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