The Federal Government says that the country is safe to host the first Global Conference on Cultural Tourism and Creative Industry scheduled for Nov 14, to Nov 17, in Lagos.
The Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced this in a featured phone-in programme on Radio Nigeria.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation on April 19th announced that Nigeria will hold its maiden global event.
See also Nigeria’s Tourism Industry Struggling Due to Rising Insecurity
Mohammed said the insinuation in certain quarters that participants and tourists would not attend the conference because of stories of killings and kidnappings in the country are erroneous.
“The security challenges Nigeria is facing did not start today. I must say the Federal Government is rising very stoutly to it.
“We cannot neglect other sectors of the Nigerian economy because we have an insecurity challenge”.
“The entire world is aware of the Nigeria challenges, yet we were given the task to host the first global conference. The act speaks volumes”.
“That is why Nigerians should get out the negativity and further look at the positive aspect,” he said.
The minister said that insecurity is a global challenge. He also added that countries with a worse situation than Nigeria were developing their tourism potential.
Sighting Britain, the Minister, noted that Britain, for more than 40 years, was in the grip of the IRA. He added that the crisis did not prevent the country from hosting Tourism global conference.
