FG tasks NIHOTOUR board on tourism business devt

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Dr. Ifeoma Adaora Anyanwutaku, has urged the Board members of the Hospitality and Tourism Sector Skills Council of Nigeria (HTSSCN) to live above board in the discharge of their responsibilities.

She made the call Friday while inaugurating Board members of both Directors and Trustees of the council on Friday in Abuja.

• Buhari prays against another civil war in Nigeria
• Zamfara asks security operatives to monitor journalists

According to her, the Federal Government is committed in developing the tourism industry of the country as the preferred sector in revamping the revenue-generating base of the economy with tourism as the lead sector.

“The board as drivers of the country’s HTSSCN is in line with government’s efforts at achieving improved service delivery in the hospitality and travel-tourism industry of the country,” the spokesman of the agency, Ahmed Mohammed Sule, quoted her as saying in a statement.

Speaking earlier, the Director General of NIHOTOUR and Secretary General of the Council, Alhaji Nura Kangiwa, traced the chequered history of the council when the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) through the Federal Ministry of Education obtained Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval in February, 2013.

According to him, this was to implement and regulate the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) which was achieved in 2014 through NBTE build capacity to accomplish the task.

While expressing joy that the Sector Skills Council since inception in 2014 has worked hard to fulfil its mandate, Kangiwa said the council still has a lot to do as required by the regulatory body and thus required both moral and financial support both from government and the organized private sector to achieve the desired objectives for which the council was established.

In their respective speeches, chairmen of boards of directors and trustees of the council, Chief Abiodun Odusanwo and Alhaji Tijjani Aliyu Danzabua, respectively, promised to work assiduously in line with the philosophy and vision for which the council was established to achieve the desired objectives.

They said that they will not betray the confidence reposed in them as Chairmen of the Board of Directors and Trustees respectively.