80,000 Nigerians Benefit from NIHOTOUR Trainings

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

The National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) announced that over 80,000 Nigerians have benefited from its training programs over the past four years under the leadership of Alhaji Nura Kangiwa.

Mr. Joesef Karim, Head of the Research and Development Unit at NIHOTOUR, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja. He highlighted that the institute’s training initiatives have equipped many Nigerians with the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the tourism industry.

Established in 1987 by the Federal Government, NIHOTOUR aims to bridge the skills gap in Nigeria’s hospitality and tourism sectors by providing hands-on training at basic, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Karim stated that between September 2020 and July 2024, trainees received education through both regular residential (on-campus) and special intervention (off-campus) training programs. “In the past four years, these trainings have resulted in verifiable skilling, reskilling, and upskilling of more than 50,000 entry-level workers and 10,000 middle and management-level personnel in the sector,” he said.

Additionally, NIHOTOUR has promoted tourism studies in Nigerian secondary schools, benefiting over 20,000 students and preparing them for careers in tourism administration and operations.

Despite funding challenges, Karim emphasized that NIHOTOUR has emerged as a leading tourism and hospitality agency under Kangiwa’s leadership since his appointment in September 2020. He noted Kangiwa’s success in transforming the institute into an internationally recognized education center for hospitality and tourism in West Africa.

Achievements under Kangiwa include expanding the institute’s campuses from eight to 12, introducing Gastronomy tourism studies, launching the Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship Program (STEP), and providing massive capacity development trainings for tourism operators and practitioners.

Karim also mentioned the acquisition of state-of-the-art mobile training kitchen trucks and the facilitation of tourism training legislation through the NIHOTOUR Establishment Act 2022. Despite these successes, insufficient funding remains a significant challenge, with capital budgetary allocations totaling less than N500 million over the past four years.

NIHOTOUR’s achievements have been supported by Federal Government budgetary allocations and National Assembly recommendations for constituency projects, which have funded rural hospitality craft and tourism skills development trainings. Karim noted that the institute utilizes a portion of the administrative charges from these projects to execute specialized training programs and support private sector tourism organizations.