NATIONAL SECURITY AND LOCAL TOURISM

 We need to sort our national security to the point we feel safe in our country, writes Joshua J. Omojuwa

The last few weeks have involved a lot of traveling. However, two of those trips were to one country, Morocco. Between July and August, I spent ample time exploring Morocco with friends.  I did not choose to visit Morocco once, let alone twice. I had been invited on separate occasions by two friends who were celebrating milestone birthdays. If I had a choice, I would have chosen separate countries for each birthday but the only choice I had was to accept to join them or not. Because of the depth of my relationship to both, I chose to attend and thus ended up vising Morocco twice in four weeks.

There was one trip to Casablanca and two to Marrakech. On both occasions, I realised one thing both cities had over what Nigeria could offer was that Morocco felt safe. It had nothing to do with the presence of soldiers or police officers, especially as I barely saw those in Casablanca. It just felt safe.

Both cities, especially Marrakech, are quite popular amongst Nigerian holiday seekers and party planners. I can’t precisely say why that is but I believe the ease of getting their visa, the Dubai issue with Nigeria, the relatively cheaper currency – at about 10 dirhams to $1 – and a bit of herding have meant that the Air Maroc flight from Lagos to Casablanca is often full. There is of course those who are using Casablanca as a transit point to other destinations. Even with that, Morocco has since become the destination for Nigerian tourists.

I avoided doing the maths but it was quite difficult not to at some point. There were almost 200 Nigerians on both trips – at about 100 each – as people traveled mostly from Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States for the two parties. That number includes children. Think about the tickets – mostly to Air Maroc -, the mostly four- and five-star hotels, transportation within the country, shopping, fun activities outside the hotels, etc., it is easy to imagine both parties would have returned more than half a million dollars to the country. Even if one person averaged a spend of $3000 – and these were a group of big spenders – that’s still a conversative $600,000.

I could not help but think this was money Nigeria was losing. However, Nigeria was not in a position to earn it in the first place. Patriotism is a beautiful idea. That said, safety and the need to be safe is a feeling that derives from the oldest part of the brain. When you see something that moves like a snake, you run. No one taught you to do that run. It is encoded in the primal part of your brain to run from danger. Patriotism is taught. Patriotism is a modern concept. In essence, when it is time to choose between being safe and being patriotic, the brain will choose safety first.

During my second visit to Marrakech, I decided to do a tour of the city. The guide was taking us around the market and showing us the way of life of the people. I got carried away again thinking, how are we were listening to this guy in Marrakech when we haven’t been taken around villages in Jalingo and being shown the way of life of our own people? A lady suggested that she was tired – Morocco was experiencing one of its hottest days in history this month – so I saw that as an opportunity to end the tour for myself too. I could not take it any more really.

It hurts me for our country. We are forced to seek pleasures outside a country that genuinely has more than enough for its people and foreigners alike. We have the lakes and mountains, we have the hills and valleys, we have the desert for the safaris. We have the people and the history; we have the myths and the fables. We have the art and the culture. We have everything a country needs to be a tourist destination, everything but the will to be one. When we find the will, we’d see the economic benefit of a secure country and then do everything we can to sort that out.

Sadly, we do not generally think in terms of Nigeria as a business entity in the way, say the Americans do. Americans are always thinking in terms of economic benefits. The decision to invade or not invade a country. What country gets criticized over an action depends on their economic power and benefits to America at times. Whether the president visits your country or not, etc. All of these are often influenced by what benefits, especially economic benefits, could accrue to their country.

That is a model Nigeria must adopt, especially as that is the model most industriliased countries play by. No one is playing ‘big brother’ to another country just for the sake of ‘shared history’, it is always about what benefits accrue to the homeland.

Arsenal and Chelsea used Afrobeats songs to announce two of their summer signings. I guess they must really love Afrobeats at these London clubs. I also know they are aware of Nigerians and our collective ability to serve attention and a big buzz when called upon – we’ve got the fervour and the numbers. Everyone is playing to their own agenda. We must do same, starting with building a country that is safe and conducive enough for our people to want to be in, travel around and party in. We are not that country now.

We can be. We need to sort our national security to the point we feel safe in our country. Note that the presence of armed soldiers and police officers everywhere serves the opposite of feeling safe. It serves fear and concern. That is not the atmosphere tourists want to put themselves in. Sadly, that is the current highest level of security in display here. There is ample room to develop local tourism and that’d ultimately attract foreigners. Until Nigerians feel safe enough to party in their country though, we can’t scale tourism.

 Omojuwa is Chief Strategist, Alpha Reach/Author, Digital Wealth Book