A tour guide, Tolu Adesola, who has been in the business for about 13 years, restricted her movements to some parts of the country to protect herself and client tourists from kidnappers and terrorists due to the country’s level of insecurity.
She lamented that that insecurity ravaging many parts of the states was affecting the nation’s tourism as tourists avoided states with amazing tourist attractions.
Narrating an incident, she said, “Someone came to make an inquiry in January this year with a plan to visit some tourist centres in December. When he came, he wanted to go to the North but I told him I couldn’t embark on the journey because of the spate of insecurity on that axis.
“Security is affecting tourism business. When the citizens are scared of travelling, are foreigners the ones that will want to go to states in the North and other parts of the country for sightseeing? Lagos is still safe like Abuja, but many other states with tourist sites are being avoided by tourists who fear being kidnapped for ransom or killed by terrorists. The government has much to do by providing security and infrastructure to make the country safe and grow the tourism industry.’’
Another tour operator, Mr Terseer Adamu, said that most operators were now operating below 20 to 30 per cent due to the worsening insecurity in the country.
Adamu said, “It didn’t just start, reduction in tourism business didn’t just start. It started around the time Boko Haram started. It got worst with COVID-19 pandemic. I can tell you that the last three years has not been encouraging. Most operators have practically been operating between 15 to 20 per cent.’’
He further said that due to insecurity, visits of foreign tourists had reduced greatly, adding that those who come into the country were mainly for business and not sightseeing.
The tour guide said, “The kind of tourism that is thriving now is business tourism where tourists come into Nigeria primarily not for leisure but for business and corporate events. For domestic tourism, it is worse; people only travel within their own area. They no longer want to travel far. If you are in Lagos, would you want to travel to a tourist destination in the South-East, North-East or North-West given the level of insecurity in the country? Domestic tourism still happens but people stay within their region. But people that come into Nigeria for leisure tourism have stopped doing so.’’
He stated that his country laid off workers to save costs as the business was no longer thriving. According to him, he works alone and only uses contract employees whenever it’s necessary.
In his narration, another tour guide, Rotimi Adelola, lamented that his client tourists had reduced significantly from what he used to have.
He said that prior to COVID-19 pandemic, business was poor but worsened with insecurity which added to the mix.
Adelola said, “Before now, during peak periods when Christmas, Easter, Independence and other notable celebrations approach, we would have close to 70 to 100 clients. And out of peak period, we would have between five to 10 clients, but now when COVID-19 came and insecurity emerged, we could go several months without any clients. Now, even during peak periods, we barely have a reasonable number of people. I believe that the cause of low turnout and patronage is insecurity. No one is willing to travel by road for tourism, people only travel for essential services. Until our roads are safe, local tourism will continue to suffer and decline.’’
Tourists lament
A tourist, Oluwabami Olumide, said he was used to touring tourist destinations but had to stop movements especially to the northern part of the country because of insecurity ravaging the country. Olumide stated, “With the issue of kidnapping, one cannot trust anybody anymore. Also the issue of tribalism is there. I have to watch the places I go to.’’
Another tourist, Godspower Ubogu, said, noted that the country’s insecure state would not allow him to visit some places in Nigeria. He added, “I cannot put my life under risk. It is mainly because of insecurity. People love to explore irrespective of the distance but because we have poor security, it becomes an issue and this discourages some of us from going beyond some places.’’
Worrying insecurity reports
3,478 were reportedly killed and 2,256 abducted across the country between December 2021 and June 15, 2022.
The report obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think-tank, revealed that the victims were killed by non-state actors such as terrorists, gunmen, robbers, cultists and security operatives, among others.
Almost every part of Nigeria has had its fair share of reported attacks. Most of the attack is occasioned by Boko Haram in the North East, banditry in North West, farmers/herders crisis in North Central, insurrection in South East, oil bunkering and militancy in the South-South and sundry crimes in South-West.
Some countries in recent times issued travel advisories to their citizens to avoid going to some places in Nigeria. One of them, the United Kingdom, warned its citizens to avoid at least 12 states in Nigeria. The states include Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
Also, the government of Canada in a travel advisory advised its citizens against visiting North-West, North-Central and the Niger Delta. It stressed that the areas were ridden with terrorism, armed attacks, kidnapping, inter-communal and sectarian violence.
Some of the tourists centres in the country include Kajuru Castle in Kaduna State; Gashaka-Gumti National Park in Taraba and Adamawa to the border with Cameroon; Gurara Waterfalls in Gurara, a local government area in Niger State; Ibeno Beach in Akwa Ibom State, Kainji National Park in Niger and Kwara states; The Kamuku National Park in Kaduna State, and the Mambilla Plateau in the Taraba State.
Others includes The Mount Patti Hill located in lokoja, Benue State; Nigerian National War Museum in Umuahia, abia State; the Ngwo Pine Forest; a pine forest near the centre of Enugu State; The Ogbunike Caves in Ogbunike, Anambra State; Sukur Cultural Landscape in Adamawa State, and the Yankari National Park, Bauchi State. Also, in the south-west some of the tourist centres are: Bar Beach situated on Victoria Island, Lagos State; Idanre Hill or Oke Idanre in Idanre town of Ondo State; Olumo Rock in Abeokuta, Ogun State; Agodi Gardens in Ibadan, Oyo State; and Osun-Osogbo a sacred grove along the banks of the Osun river, Osogbo, Osun State.
A poll on May 27, 2022 by the NOI Polls Limited, a country-specific polling service in West Africa, which conducts periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues, reveals that the security situation in Nigeria was arguably the worst after the civil war.
Similarly, the global peace index for 2021 compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace ranked Nigeria 146th out of 163 countries with a score of 2.712, while among sub-Saharan African countries the country was ranked 39th out of 44 countries examined in the region.
Despite the whooping sum allotted to security by the Federal Government yearly, the macroeconomic indicators, investment inflow in all sectors of the economy including tourism had reduced.
The security budgets from 2016 showed the progression from N1tn security budget to N2.4tn in 2022.
Similarly, in 2021, the Police Trust Fund commenced, and in March, N11bn was approved for the fund and another N74bn approved in June.
As of 2020, over $40.6bn worth of foreign investments were diverted from the Nigerian economy due to insecurity according to the global terrorism index.
Nigeria, in the last decade, has been heavily investing in the procurement of high-tech military equipment, especially aircraft and warships.
Owing to the upsurge of insurgency, banditry, and other criminal vices, Nigeria, under the six years leadership of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), gave the Air Force its biggest upgrade.
Since Buhari assumed office in 2015, the military had taken delivery of a total of 32 brand new aircraft, with the latest being the 6 X A-29 Super Tucanos – the first batch of a total of 12 – that arrived on Thursday, July 22, 2021.
Lull in the sector
One of the cultural celebrations considered to be the biggest in the ancient city of Ife, Osun State, Olojo Festival, experienced low foreign tourists this year than that of 2021 due to insecurity.
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