Tourism: a huge potential overlooked by Buhari

Since the discovery of oil in Nigeria in the 50s and 60s, the nation has focused mainly on it as the mainframe of its economy hereby result to neglect of other sectors of the economy that could have also helped in upholding and strengthening the economy. Nigeria’s economy is like a house suspended on one pillar that when it is hit by strong wind and tremor the pillar may not be able to sustain house and total crumbling is inevitable.
The recent global oil glut shook Nigeria so strong that the economy almost collapsed totally. As oil accounts for more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s source of revenue, and when oil lost value in the global market, Nigeria’s revenue was gravely affected. The Federal Government of Nigeria was hit as it could not pay the state governments who also largely rely on the oil revenue, their due allocations. Many of the states became heavily indebted as they were not able to pay salaries of their workers, and also had to suspended developmental projects they embarked upon.
President Muhammadu Buhari, during his inauguration speech, promised to diversify the nation’s economy because oil alone can no longer sustain it. The President said his administration will look into other means of generating revenue and he emphasized that sectors such as agriculture and solid mineral resources will be developed to back up for oil. But the President seems to have overlooked a very important sector that has the potential of yielding immediate result if looked and invested into – the tourism sector.
When Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated his ministers last month, there was a glaring omission of portfolio for the ministry of tourism. It became a shocker to most people because Buhari had earlier promised to diversify the economy in the face of dwindling oil revenue. It however seem President Buhari does not known how important tourism sector is that he decided to scrap it.
Nations such as South Africa, Dubai, China, Kenya, France, Britain and many more have a robust tourism sector that is giving their government high revenues.
The tourism sector has the capacity to generate billions of naira in revenue for the government if properly harnessed. The various natural wonders scattered and located at every regions in the country have the potential to put Nigeria on the global spot.
Nigeria is blessed with abundance of tourist destinations that if developed, can fetch the government huge money in returns. Because Nigeria is still a developing country, most of these tourist destinations are natural wonders, unlike in developed nations where there are numbers of man-made wonders.
Geographically, Nigeria is located close to the equator and it has a relatively balanced weather condition that is favourable for anyone. In Jos, Plateau state capital for example, the weather condition in the city is very similar to that of Europe, and many Europeans have found the city homely.
What makes these tourist destinations unique and cost effective is that they will not cost the government much as they are works of nature. Government will only spend on their maintenance and beautification to attract tourists to the sites. Also, government will have to spend on the infrastructures of these tourist destinations.