Keyamo, FTAN president, others bag tourism awards

Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development; and Nkereuwem Onung, President, Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), have received the 2024 awards of the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN).

They were honoured alongside other stakeholders on Wednesday night at the Dinner and Gala Night of the 7th annual National Tourism Transportation Summit in Abuja.

The just concluded summit held from Dec. 3 to 4, with the theme “Tourism Transportation Connectivity: Accelerating the Synergy for National Economic Development.”

Keyamo received the ‘Leadership Award for Positioning Nigeria as a Regional Aviation Leader in Africa’s Airspace’, while Onung clinched the ‘Leadership Award for Excellence in Tourism Development in Nigeria.’

Others who were honoured at the event included, Amb. Wale Ojo-Lanre, Director General, Ekiti Bureau of Tourism Development, who bagged the ‘Long Service Award in Nigeria Tourism Development and Promotion.

Mr. Folorunsho Coker; Director General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation (NTDA), won the Outstanding Leadership in Digital Tourism Promotions -Tour Nigeria’ and Prof. Charles Anosike Director -General, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet)

The honour roll also includes Farouk Umar, Managing Director/COE Nigerian Airspace Management Agency and Dr. Emmanuel Meribole ,Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development, among others.

Some awardee organisations in the tourism and transport sector include National Park Service, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Green Africa Airways Limited, Ethiopian Airline, Universal School of Aviation,among others.

The event also featured conferment of the ITPN Fellowship on qualified members of the institute.

Earlier, Mr Abiodun Odusanwo, National President, Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria (ITPN) said the summit was a flagship initiative for tourism stakeholders.

Odusanwo, who is also the chairman of the Inter-ministerial Organising Committee (IMOC) of the summit, said the annual event was a platform for stakeholders in tourism to form a common-front towards making the sector thrive.

He congratulated those honoured with the awards, as well as those conferred with the fellowship of ITPN.

“The whole idea started in 2017 during the meeting of the National Council on Transportation, when we actually presented a memo to the council seeking for collaboration between tourism and transportation.

“We observed that those in transport are operating in silos; those in rail, aviation, even those within mass transportation, everybody seems to be operating in silos.

“The life of a typical traveller can go through all modes of transportation and that is why it is nice to have collaboration, a synergy between tourism and all those different transportation modes.

“We have a team design driven connectivity, networking, also among these agencies to ensure that we have a more or less seamless movement, mobility of people within the country,” he said.

NAN