Today, I remember Tereza Ezeobi, the “Ruth” of our tourism – a very loyal, committed and effective leader in the growth and development of tourism in Nigeria. Tereza Ezeobi, then Nanta President in the late 90s, was indeed an amazon and tourism warrior.
She did not only help reposition Nanta, she worked gallantly to birth the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN).
Apart from Ezeobi, there were tourism people and great minds such as Ade Aruna, hotelier per excellence and former general manager of then Ikoyi Hotel now a pastor, Ganiyu Balogun (the boatman), Victoria Soluade, Jimi Alade, Segun Ayodeji, Josephine Anene, former PDP women leader and former minister of women affairs, Margaret Fadiyi (webisco), late Pa Da’silva, Garba Gumel, late Kingsley Onuoha, Deji Adeleye, Paul Onyia, former sales manager, Sheraton Lagos, and now a traditional ruler and Ogbeni Tope Awe.
This list of tourism men and women of goodwill is not exhaustive as there were others, space will not allow me to mention.
At its peak and formation, the driving force in FTAN is not about who holds any particular post but the will and strength to push tourism ahead as a professional business and driven by professionals only. In this historical recount, I will not forget the role played by Tukur Mani, former director-general NTDC, minister of commerce, health and a PDP appointed Nigerian ambassador.
Tukur hugely encouraged the birth FTAN when the Alabo Mike Amachree-led Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria (ATPN) became operationally limited to husband the growing number of practitioners and the desire for change.
FTAN from all intents and purposes was formed to give the sector a strong united presence and to also create a holding bay for mentoring upcoming young professional groups across the octopus divide of the industry. Tereza Ezeobi and her team dreamt big for FTAN and the tourism media led then by Ogbeni Tope Awe gave the process a more than front page attention. Tourism was all we lived for and those formative leaders ensured that true sacrifices were made to reposition the industry.
Let me admit and note that tourism got more encouragement from the military than civilian administrations, a strong factor why most of the laws setting up the various agencies of tourism and culture bear the military unitary stamp.
Indeed, from Obasanjo, IBB, and Abacha, the military regimes strategically pushed tourism ahead but found that the private sector was not organised or at war with itself. Jerry Useni as minister of FCT gave FTAN a measure of support and when we refused to have Goody Ibru as president, Useni humbly pleaded that we drop our opposition to his candidacy.
I recall then at one of our strategic meetings at Abuja Sheraton when Paul Onyia walked in and announced that he would no longer lead the opposition to Ibru’s presidency as powers that be were alleged to have put pressure on him to break our rank. Onyia was very dedicated to the dream and ideals of FTAN and was ready to sacrifice his lucrative job at Sheraton Ikeja, a hotel owned by his principal and FTAN presidency nominee then.
Even though Paul Onyia insisted that the decision of the group must override the threat to his job at Sheraton, we all backed down and took to the mediation and wise counsel of Jerry Useni whose late wife was a strong member and travel agent.
Looking back today, the men and women with a measure of personal sacrifice such as the founders of FTAN can no longer be found in our midst. What we have now since the time of Munzali Dantata till date are men and women who want to tunnel their way into government appointments using FTAN as a tool to achieve their dreams.
The ideals of the federation are now relegated to the background while portfolio operators and office seekers now play the spoiler’s role.
About two years ago or thereabout, I drove all the way from New-Bussa, Niger state to attend an FTAN AGM/election meeting in Abuja. It was a Kangaroo set up organised by pretenders to FTAN leadership and dreams.
Before my arrival, the tourism mosquitoes had “shared and paid up” for the various positions of FTAN and all attempts to call the chairman of board of trustees (BOT), Samuel Alabi, to order was cleverly circumvented.
The truth is that FTAN is now living on past glory with so-called office seekers (not leaders) who have no true knowledge of expectations and makings of the federation. Those on ground today were not elected but selected and neither do they have any strategy to reinvent the federation.
The BOT apart, the eight-year presidency of Tommy Akingbogun is a disaster and exists only on a rag-sheet, as the industry is more polarised than ever before. To own a hotel, hospitality or travel company do not make anyone a professional and that is why we want our FTAN back. It is indeed long overdue to overhaul the entire federation and let selfless men and women drive it back to the tourism road of profitability and fame.
In next two months, June to precise, we send notice to all time-tested tourism professionals to come out in great numbers and wrestle FTAN from the strong holds of these tourism dream killers and let the people rejoice again.
Enough of Tom and Jerry antics in the federation, as time has come for the pretenders at FTAN to give us back our association. And I must advise the minister of tourism and all the heads of tourism and culture agencies to keep their distance from the FTAN “Sugar Leaders” and wait for our new flag bearers.
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