October 24, (THEWILL) – At a time the Nigerian economy is willing to embrace an alternative way of survival, there is one area that has received a lot of attention, which is also regarded as the nexus between tourism and environment. That place is the Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC).
Over time, the centre has proved that vibrant tourism destinations and investing in environmental and natural resource sustainability can yield high rates of social and economic returns and have a direct or indirect impact on the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
Environmental expert, Muhtari Aminu-Kano, recently said in an interview that facilities like the Lekki Conservation Centre would provide favourable time for inbound and outbound tourists to explore the mega fauna and flora of the country in a more unique manner.
He said, “We get an average about a 100,000 visitors normally. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the figures have completely reduced and stopped, but this is a sign that Nigerians really want to go out naturally and it is not because of our DNA and culture that we are not going out for nature-based tourism.
“About 20 schools come to visit us here every single day and it is because we are accessible, there is infrastructure for people to come, there is no security issue, we have the professional staff who are able to guide people and the people enjoy the experience.”
Aminu-Kano advised that eco-tourism should be given a lot of attention in spite of a range of challenges affecting its growth. To further achieve this, he added, the NCF is adopting the platforms of National Parks Service (NPS) and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), among other notable tourism agencies to attract eco-tourists.
He described a good and healthy environment as a necessity for tourists’ attraction, insisting that human beings respond in an inner spiritual way to that kind of tourism.
Aminu-Kano also stressed the need for close partnership between people in the environmental and tourism community, noting that eco-tourism is really a major player in both sectors.
He said, “Nigeria’s tourism practitioners focused mostly on culture and other forms of tourism to the detriment of promoting eco-tourism. So, most of our tourism infrastructure and agencies attended more to other kinds of tourism facilities.
“We are making a lot of efforts and things are happening gradually. I think that at the NTDC level we have partnership with them both at their national and zonal levels in Lagos. Together, we are on the Board of NPS and we are trying to see how that can be stimulated and need to do something about enabling policies and frameworks in that regard because most national parks, in terms of legislature, do not allow private sector participation within them, but I know the law is changing and the Bureau of Public Enterprises have something in progress to bring third party and other players to work with NPS in a sort of commercialisation system.
“What the tourism people keep telling us when we approach them is that the basic infrastructure for nature-based tourism is almost non-existent because most of our national parks are in remote, inaccessible places and so access is a major issue. Our forests now are dens to insurgents, bandits and whatever. That could be a major constraint to the immediate realisation of that, but I think, anyway, that could be a genuine issue.
“But there are other parks and areas that are not remote, which are easily accessible and which are not vulnerable to those security challenges.”
According to him, government is not taking the issue of environment seriously nor giving it the focus it deserves. He added, “The Ministry of Environment at state and federal levels gets the least resources and they are not at the table where major decisions are taken. So we need to address that. How can you reinforce when you do not have the capacity and the money?
“We have a consultant, who is a tourism expert, that is developing component and we have biodiversity experts that are working together to propel the proposal for this programme jointly with the NTDC and other organisations like the World Tourism Organisation.”
About the Author
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
