Governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, has commended Hon. Fidelia M. Salami, Chairman of Delta State Tourism Board for expanding the frontiers of knowledge through tourism education in Nigeria.
Governor Okowa made this disclosure at the launch and public presentation of Senior Secondary School 1, 2 and 3 Tourism books authored by Salami.
Entitled “Tourism in Nigeria: The incredible journey into the heart of nature”, the occasion held at the Orchid Hotels, Asaba on Tuesday 27 July 2021, attracted dignitaries from within and outside of Delta State.
They included, among others, the immediate past Governor of Delta State, His Excellency Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, Minister of information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, Mr Abdulraheed Momoh, son of the late Prince Tony Momoh, former Minister of information and Culture who wrote the forewords to the books and His Royal Majesty, Dein of Agbor, Dr Benjamin Ikenchuku, the royal father of the day and other eminent personalities from all walks of life
Hon Fidelia Salami in her welcome address said that her passion for ensuring the availability of quality content tourism books for the secondary education strata motivated her into writing the books.
She said: “I have this undying desire to see students successfully pass through the Senior Secondary School Education and acquire the trade skills in tourism. I also seek to establish the pathways through which Nigeria can grow in tourism.”
Governor Okowa, who was represented by his Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr (Mrs) Rose Ezewu, pointed out that the books were a perfect answer to the prayers of the tourism sector which has suffered a dearth of textbooks and research materials particularly in the secondary level of education.
Okowa said he was particularly happy that the publisher and author of the books, Hon Fidelia Salami was from Delta State and more also “she is the Chairman of Delta State Tourism Board who knows where the nail pinches in the tourism sector.”
He disclosed that Delta State, being the state where the books originated and where the author is serving her father’s land, would not only ensure the accessibility of books to students in the Senior Secondary School 1,2 and 3 but also ensure its availability in all libraries in the state
Governor Okowa applauded Fidelia Salami for adding value to knowledge and for sowing inter-generational documents “which teach students what they should know in tourism, what they should do in tourism and how they can explore tourism as a means of survival.”
In his keynote address, the Chairman of the event, former Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, described the efforts of Fidelia Salami at writing three- books that addressed the foundation and fundamental pillars of tourism education in Nigeria as not only commendable but also an effort that should be appreciated by all Nigerians “who understand the import of tourism and its capacity as potent revenue generation.”
The immediate past Governor of Delta state disclosed that his passion for tourism and regard for the books being launched that day informed his presence in Asaba which made it the first public function he was attending in Asaba since he left government.
Uduaghan said he knew the import of tourism, adding it was the reason he organised a programme “Delta State after oil” which he said many people then could not comprehend and thus elicited many uninformed criticisms.
He said the books which Fidelia published would go a long way at raising the consciousness of tourism in the “minds of the Senior Secondary School Students who are the youths of the day and leaders of tomorrow.”
Uduaghan appealed to the Governor and government of Delta State to make the books a must-read by the students in the state.
While congratulating the author of the books on tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that the books were not published for the benefit of the students only but also aimed at providing skills and sensitization for education officers and teachers of “what tourism is all about, as well as how and what it contributes to lives, livelihoods, individuals, and the country as a whole.” He was represented on the occasion.
Dein of Agbor, Dr Benjamin Ikenchuku, who was present throughout the event blessed Hon Fidelia Salami for enriching the tourism education sector with quality materials.
The Dein of Agbor said that Fidelia Salami by her act of publishing three books for SSS 1, 2- 3 “is stoking the embers of national rebirth in cultural – tourism.”
He called on education planners and administrators in Nigeria to adopt the book and recommend it to the nation.
The reviewer of the book, Ambassador Wale Ojo-Lanre, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Ekiti State on Tourism Development, who is also the Country’s Team Leader and Chief Coordinator of Federation of World Culture and Arts Society, Singapore, FOWCAASS, said that the three books were the perfect answers to the dearth of textbooks in the tourism education sector in Nigeria which every tourism buff must not only read but also acquire and possess for this generation and generations yet unborn.
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