NIHOTOUR Boss Advocates Skill Acquisition to Solve Joblessness

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

The Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), Nura Sani Kangiwa, has expressed confidence in vocational skills acquisition of the Nigerian arts and crafts industry in the fight against unemployment and poverty in the country.

Kangiwa, who stated this recently, while declaring open a Skills Acquisition and Empowerment of Women in Arts and Crafts training session, organised by the North-East Campus of the institute in Bauchi, pointed out that the fight against poverty in Nigeria is everyone’s responsibility.

He said NIHOTOUR, as skills and vocational training centre, would continue to play its part in imparting knowledge-based skills that will offer them employment and financial earning opportunities in line with the federal government’s agenda to fight poverty.
The director-general, represented by the head of the North-East Zonal Campus of the institute, Samuel Ibrahim, called on participants to make good use of the programme.

Ali Babayo, Permanent Secretary of Bauchi State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, urged Nigerians to look inward to be economically self-sufficient.

Nelson Lucas, the coordinator of the Bauchi zonal office of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), noted that tourism was a multifaceted industry offering ample opportunities for employment in the arts and crafts.

He further noted that the skill acquisition training programme was timely and called on the trainees to make the best use of their knowledge at the end of the training session for a better livelihood.

In his goodwill message, Alamai Murtala, the department head of Travel and Tourism at the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi said knowledge-based skill acquisition remained the surest way to excel in any trade or profession. At the same time, he noted that participants in the skills acquisition training programme should count themselves lucky.

Murtala urged them to make judicious use of the skills they will acquire for their socio-economic benefits.