NIGERIA (eTN) – Sally Uwechue-Mbanefo, Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), has said that she would remain focused despite all distractions in the course of executing her job.
This is coming on the heels of many one-sided stone throwing and sensational reports on NTDC by one or two soft-sell magazines and blogs, which delved into issues of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, the apex tourism body in Nigeria, and refusal to participate in the 2014 International Travel Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain, and its decision not to also exhibit at the just-concluded 2014 ITB Berlin Travel Fair in Berlin, Germany, respectively, even though they attended and marketed Nigeria from stand to stand, with great success, saving the corporation over N30 million by not building a stand according to an insider.
The above issue has generated quite a bit of debate, and unfortunately, not many of the journalists who wrote on the withdrawals of the NTDC got their facts right. It is a known fact that as of January 30, 2014 and March 5, 2014, respectively, the NTDC did not receive a dime from the federal government following the budget impasse between the executive branch and legislature, and did not receive most of its capital for such trade fairs.
As an astute banker, Mbanefo refused to go the way of her predecessor, who was used to borrowing from expensive sources to participate in previous international fairs, which incidentally have never yielded much result.
According to sources close to the corporation, the uncontrolled borrowing habit of the former director general of the NTDC has also left whopping debts in excess of hundreds of millions for the new NTDC boss to deal with.
African Travel Times Magazine sources disclosed further that contracts were awarded without documentation, which was one of the reasons the current boss of the agency refused to borrow more money, and cut the coat of NTDC to its size by making decisions backed fully by her Board of Directors with whom she has agreed that NTDC will only exhibit and build stands only if an international trip is within the budget released, and if there is any mileage to be gained for NTDC.
Besides her financial prudence, she also came into office campaigning as an advocate of domestic tourism, which her predecessor was never interested in.
While the new director general is trying to settle down and focus on the repositioning and re-organizing of the battered tourism corporation she inherited, the former boss of the corporation, whose success stories only existed on the pages of newspapers and on television screen are still daily fingered as the masquerade behind some personal and Internet blackmail, in an attempt to extort money from the corporation that he wrecked before being kicked out of office.
An insider told African Travel Times that the former NTDC boss, whose sacking was caught unawares, is on the attack to discredit the corporation, because she refused to succumb to pressure over monies he claimed he spent without documentation from his pocket while in office.
Shockingly, the former director general was also alleged to have almost successfully manipulated the controversial Lagos office of the corporation, which he tried to secretly buy in collusion with the landlord, a close personal friend of his, and resell it to NTDC at double the price a few years ago.
On discovery of this by the supervising minister at the time, Prince Kayode Adetokunbo ordered the funds to be returned to the government. The former director general, Runsewe, never paid the Lagos office rent from 2013 to 2014 before he was sacked in May 2013.
Capitalizing on a new โOyiboโ as the new director general is fondly called, the landlord inflated the cost of the rent to N11.5 million thinking she would be forced to pay the rent if they blackmail her with fabricated negative press articles; unfortunately that never worked.
At some point, this same man, who never respected the board of the corporation during his time in office, tried unsuccessfully to also manipulate some board members to prevail on Mbanefo to pay him the sum of N50 million, for which he had no documentation, but they stood firm and backed the NTDC boss not to pay out such questionable monies without proper verification and documentation.
Sources within disclosed that the new NTDC boss will not spend tax payersโ monies for expensive foreign exhibitions, when her main focus was on domestic tourism which will elicit local travel as well as attracting international visitors.
To date, Mbanefo is still paying staff that were taken en masse on trips and never paid their allowances by the former director general. She is confronted with unpaid bills for stands purportedly constructed by the former director general, and by his creditors anytime the corporation is abroad.
The participation of the tourism corporation at any given international travel exhibition cost is according to African Travel Timesโ investigation โputting up a booth or pavilion without the private sector plus the cost of tickets, lodging, and estacode allowances at such events stands well over N40 million, and paying such monies when basic materials needed to run the office on a day-to-day basis were unavailable is unjustifiableโ our source revealed.
When contacted, Sally Mbanefo, director general of the NTDC said, โWe decided to go to Berlin eventually because of the several seminars and presentations of new trends and developments that run simultaneously with the exhibition part of the event; truly, thatโs exactly what a travel exhibition is all about.โ
She is, however, quoted to have told her staff that she is of the opinion that the Nigerian private sector is very sophisticated and a pride to Nigeria, and that they should be showcasing Nigeria to the outside world on a much larger platform.
She, upon assumption of office in May 2013, was confronted with various operational issues which required immediate attention in order to set the stage for advancement of the corporation.
Consequently, Mbanefo immediately swung into action and commenced efforts at addressing identified issues, which have already started yielding positive outcomes.
State of Affairs
Due to the poor staff morale she met on the ground, the director general began a constant dialogue with them, and discovered deep-rooted issues like the fact that there was no condition of service for staff, a very low salary structure compared with their peers, and complaints of hijacking โschedules of dutyโ by some influential staff under the former DG, with no corporate governance at all.
Others issues included infrastructure challenges regarding epileptic electricity โ there was no generator or transformer, lack of work-supporting amenities and equipment, and no cars to work with while zonal offices were comatose.
There was no Tenders board, no Procurement board, no exco, and returns were being made to regulatory authorities like Fiscal Responsibility, the Federal Character Commission, and the National Assembly. A series of queries had to be answered by the new DG for activities going back to 3 years before she resumed.
Organizational Actions Taken So Far
Team Building
The Corporation began regular departmental briefings and town hall meetings with all staff, a platform that has provided an opportunity for extensive assessments through meetings and interactions with staff and stakeholders.
Corporate Governance Instituted
To create checks and balances, she initiated an inclusive budgeting process, established an executive committee, set up a Tenders board, and set up a procurement planning committee, all which never existed before.
Revenue Drive
To boost revenue generation, she created a revenue generation committee and transformation steering committee to work with a revenue and management consultant to advise on a revenue and transformation drive.
She initiated monthly โraise and praise awardsโ for high-performing staff, and set up a new logistics and project development unit to source sponsors and partner for the corporationโs projects. She did not stop at that, as she procured a transformer to ensure 18 to 20 hours of light daily for the office.
She remodeled the office building through the private sector to reflect patriotic colors and a decent work environment for staff, and she changed bush cloth curtains to professional blinds, and got the private sector to provide buses for staff welfare, and worked very closely with the union.
2014 Goals
From her various public presentations both at the Senate and House of Representatives, she was applauded for her vision and achievements in collaborating with the private sector so far. The NTDC leadership under Mbanefo, has these strategic imperatives in furtherance of the corporationโs mandate: (1) REBUILDING the NTDC through staff capacity building programs and training programs: workshops, retreats, and local courses; consolidating partnerships with multi-lateral institutions; (2) GROWING THE TOURISM VALUE CHAIN for jobs and revenues in furtherance of her domestic tourism agenda, whose main focus is (i) to empower the local governments at the grassroots level, (ii) to create jobs for youths, and (iii) to reduce urban migration, while organizing seven regional sports carnivals focused on youth participation and engagement.
Re-invent The Tourism Value Chain Through Public Private Partnership (PPP) Projects
They plan to train at least two tour guides in each of Nigeriaโs 36 states as phase I and local governments as phase II; renovate and develop one tourist site each in the six geo-political zones; aggressively market and promote Nigeria through local and international media channels; and finally, organize a beauty pageant annually during the sports carnival to promote domestic tourism.
As low hanging fruits, the following is being planned: A National Domestic Tourism Calendar to be published for all, Tourism Information Desk at major airports, an NTDC-branded magazine for private sector and state governments to showcase their tourism assets, and a tourism TV quiz game show that will (a) educate Nigerians on tourism sites, (b) reward them for taking the trouble to visit tourism sites, and (c) generate revenue for the NTDC.
Tourism Sites Authentication
True to her promises at the NTDC tourism forum in September 2013 to visit all 6 geopolitical zones and Abuja sites, for months now, Mbanefo has been on the road visiting all major attractions to authenticate the existence and status of tourist sites in all the six geopolitical zones and Abuja.
So far, she has visited about 15 states, meeting with governors, tourism/culture commissioners, traditional rulers, and chief executives of tourism agencies with the view to partnering with them on the importance of the tourism sector to the local economy.
With less than nine months on the job, she has visited all the six geopolitical zones from Adamawa to Taraba, Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Ondo, Osun, Lagos (water tourism), all the South states, and finally to the Southeast states starting with Abia.
Mbanefoโs gospel, as she travels across the country is that of, we can do it and we must do it jointly. She is a passionate advocate of domestic tourism and sees that as an avenue to generate wealth for an economy blessed with a rich population.
From the several festivals/carnivals such as Carnival Calabar, Carniriv, OsunOsogbo, and Mare festivals, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation now has enough activities to promote and stimulate the once forgotten domestic tourism.
To crown it all, she is already organizing the national tourism calendar for domestic tourism, working with all states in Nigeria.
While there is no illusion that most of its tourist attractions though in existence, need development and investments, the leadership and board of the NTDC, with the support of the minister, are making conscious efforts to attract investors into the country.
The DG is doing this through foreign embassies and missions, by providing information on tourism investment opportunities in Nigeria to them and holding constant dialogue with the diplomatic community, who has embraced her campaign for domestic tourism and promised to be marketers of Nigeria to their nationals abroad.
She has not left out the private sector where she came from, whom she vows must drive domestic tourism actively and create PPP projects for job creation and revenue for the treasury.
So far, the NTDC has signed an MOU with the Gambia Tourism Board and Nigeria Turkey Chamber of Commerce, and recently concluded a meeting to address an MOU with the Mexico Tourism Board at their last meeting in NTDCโs head office, which will be officially signed in Mexico this April with the Minister of Tourism Culture and National Orientation. The President and NTDC is now also working on Venezuela and Cuba.
Nations that have several years of excellent tourism best practice are excited about partnering with Nigeria including Switzerland, France, and Germany.
In her first three months in office, rather than globe-trot for irrelevant trade fairs or talk loosely with the press, the director general kept silent for three months, and at the end of it, she signed five major MOUs, which have become operative since then โ Arik Air and ABC Transport, both to boost domestic tourism; as well as Heritage Bank and Reddington Hospital for medical tourism, and with Visa Incorporated.
Currently on her list of collaborations concluded are the NFF and National Olympic Committee for sports tourism, immigration for partnership for tourism visas on arrival, Sure-P, Chisco Group, FCT, Ondo State, Akwa Ibom State, Abia State, Benue State, and before the end of this year, she would have visited at least 20 states.
Who can stand in the way of our super director general, Mbanefo?
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- This is coming on the heels of many one-sided stone throwing and sensational reports on NTDC by one or two soft-sell magazines and blogs, which delved into issues of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, the apex tourism body in Nigeria, and refusal to participate in the 2014 International Travel Fair (FITUR) in Madrid, Spain, and its decision not to also exhibit at the just-concluded 2014 ITB Berlin Travel Fair in Berlin, Germany, respectively, even though they attended and marketed Nigeria from stand to stand, with great success, saving the corporation over N30 million by not building a stand according to an insider.
- While the new director general is trying to settle down and focus on the repositioning and re-organizing of the battered tourism corporation she inherited, the former boss of the corporation, whose success stories only existed on the pages of newspapers and on television screen are still daily fingered as the masquerade behind some personal and Internet blackmail, in an attempt to extort money from the corporation that he wrecked before being kicked out of office.
- African Travel Times Magazine sources disclosed further that contracts were awarded without documentation, which was one of the reasons the current boss of the agency refused to borrow more money, and cut the coat of NTDC to its size by making decisions backed fully by her Board of Directors with whom she has agreed that NTDC will only exhibit and build stands only if an international trip is within the budget released, and if there is any mileage to be gained for NTDC.