● Badaki-led FTAN set to meet minister, other tourism stakeholders in Abuja to resolve industry policy issues
By Justina Okpanku
The Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) has visited the Minister of Art Culture Tourism and Creative Economy, Barrister Hanatu Musa Musawa, condemning the constant harassment of Lagos hotels by the National Institute for Tourism and Hospitality (NIHOTOUR) over hotel registration compliance, a fallout of NIHOTOUR Act 2022.
The FTAN, which is the organised private sector body in the tourism sub-sector, brought to the minister’s attention the “renewed attempt by NIHOTOUR DG, Abisoye Fagade to execute the NIHOTOUR Act 2022 through the back door.”
NIHOTOUR, one of the two parastatals in the public sector tourism (the other parastatal is the NTDA formerly NTDC), was established in 1987 to provide skilled manpower for the tourism industry. But NIHOTOUR is obviously trying to wear a new garb as a regulatory institution, thanks to the law establishing the institute in 2022.
The minister, again, asked the Director General of the NIHOTOUR, Dr. Abisoye Fagade to stop the enforcement of the Institute’s establishment Act 2022 which has pitched him against the private tourism operators in the country amid complaints that NIHOTOUR is causing confusion in the tourism industry.
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The FTAN, the umbrella association of hotels, tour and cruise operators, travel agents and other tourism-reliant organisations in the country, raised another alarm saying that ‘Fagade has come again.”
The complaint is not unconnected to the problem the Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos (HOMAL) was having with NIHOTOUR.
The hotel association had earlier urged the Federal Government to call the leadership of NIHOTOUR to order.
Generally, Lagos hotels insiders said ” hotel operators including the hotel staff have been on the edge and not sure of what tomorrow portends following the harrowing experience some of the hoteliers in Lagos suffered as a result of the botched attempts by officials of the NIHOTOUR to enforce registration by operators in hotels as stipulated by NIHOTOUR Act 2022.”
One tourism industry operator who lauded the manner it was being resolved by the minister said the “FTAN’s visit to the supervisory tourism minister followed a strongly worded letter to the ministry of Culture to stop Fagade and his “recklessness. The minister did the right thing.”
He added that “I think the hotel registration compliance in Lagos was causing confusion in the tourism industry.”
The minister advised Fagade “to stay action on the Act” pending a stakeholders’ meeting that she has called slated for August 29, 2025.
The Secretary-General of HOMAL, Mr. Adeniyi Ologun, described the actions of NIHOTOUR as “illegal” pointing out that “there is a Supreme Court judgement on the role of the Federal Government on the issue of tourism in Nigeria, and also due to the pendency of the case before the court.
“We know that NIHOTOUR made demand that members of HOMAL and other hotels should register. They said the registration would commence with the top management members that they should register with NIHOTOUR so that the institute can certify their qualification so to say. They said the enabling law of NIHOTOUR, that is the NIHOTOUR Act 2022 requires that from all practitioners.
“HOMAL said that this might be against the ruling of the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 which specifically made tourism and hospitality subject to state legislations,” he said.
Musawa, who first directed NIHOTOUR to stay action on the Act in the month of June, 2025, again gave her directive for the second time when she played host to the newly elected Executive Council of the FTAN, led by its President, Dr. Aliyu Badaki, in Abuja.
She, however, explained that the order is to allow room for dialogue with the stakeholders, parastatals and the Ministry so as to carry out the necessary adjustments on areas of overlap and conflicts being raised by the operators.
The minister promised to talk with the relevant agencies to ensure that there is no further harassment in the enforcement process while the gray areas are sorted out.
This would be the second time in about two months that the minister would be wading into the imbroglio between NIHOTOUR and the private tourism operators.
* The bone of contention
The bone of contention is the shoddy implementation of NIHOTOUR Act 2022 which tourism operators didn’t welcome.
The NIHOTOUR bill was signed into law in 2022 by former former president Muhammadu Buhari.
For three years none of the two NIHOTOUR’s directors- general could implement the Act.
Barely two months after Fagade’s appointment in November 2024 he announced that NIHOTOUR is no longer a training institute but a regulatory institution.
Most of the tourism stakeholders had faulted the inability of the newly appointed NIHOTOUR’s helmsman (Fagade) to consult the private operators before introducing NIHOTOUR hotel registration compliance team to register Lagos hotels in June.
NIHOTOUR hotel registration compliance team was allegedly backed by armed policemen while visiting some Lagos hotels.
The hotel registration compliance got bloody when an hotel staff of Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos was allegedly battered by the police.
The tourism operators are vexed as they are already bogged down by myriads of challenges in their business including multiple taxation.
A hotel owner pays taxes both to the local, state and federal government authorities amid tough operating environment. It is perhaps this reason the NIHOTOUR registration compliance was resisted by the hotel operators. Many of the hotels said they are already inuandated for registration by Lagos State Tourism and the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), also a federal government agency charged with hotel registration and grading of hotels and other hospitality centres in the country.
What was on the lips of the tourism operators was, “what will become of the NIHOTOUR training responsibility if the institute is now usurping the NTDA work?
*Lagos hotel association states its own grouse against NIHOTOUR
The Hotel Owners and Managers Association of Lagos (HOMAL) HOMAL had decried the disruption in business and arrest of its members in Lagos by the NIHOTOUR in June.
There was a directive for HOMAL members and their staff to register with NIHOTOUR.
The Secretary General of the association, Mr. Adeniyi Ologun, said staff members of some of these hotels were on Tuesday, June 10 illegally detained at the Lagos Zonal Office of NIHOTOUR in Mushin, Lagos for hours, saying that “such action is capable of sending wrong signals to investors in the hospitality business and truncate the steady growth in the hospitality industry that the country has been experiencing.”
While speaking to the media on the issue, Ologun, described the actions of NIHOTOUR as illegal since there is a Supreme Court judgment on the role of the federal government on the issue of tourism in Nigeria, and also due to the pendency of the case before the court. “We know that NIHOTOUR made demand that members of HOMAL, among other hotels, should register. They said the registration would commence with the top management members that they should register with NIHOTOUR so that the institute can certify their qualification so to say. They said the enabling law of NIHOTOUR, that is the NIHOTOUR Act 2022 requires that from all practitioners.
“HOMAL said that this might be against the ruling of the Supreme Court ruling in 2013 which specifically made tourism and hospitality subject to state legislations. So, in the course of the exchange, like every responsible organisation, we decided to go to court to find out whether their request is validly made or not. So, we approached the court, and the court proceedings commenced on May 21, 2025. At the court, after the exchange of legal documents, the case was adjourned to September 30, 2025,” he also stated.
He added that “I remember HOMAL lawyer specifically informed the court that NIHOTOUR has been forceful for the registration and certification of our members, which the court needs to give order that all parties maintain status quo. So, that was the position when we left the court.
“Only for us to be informed by many of our members like the Lagos Sheraton , Marriot, Radisson Blu Anchorage, Four Point by Sheraton, Oniru and others that NIHOTOUR has invaded their premises with armed policemen, barricaded their entrances, disrupted their operations and insisted on taking some of their management staff to follow them.”
When asked what was the requirement for a hotel to get registered with NIHOTOUR and whether the institute was making any demand, Ologun explained that “When I spoke with our members that were arrested, if I will call it arrest, they said they were asked to pay N2.5 million before they could be released.”
He continued, “At the NIHOTOUR zonal office in Lagos, fierce-looking police officers mounted the gate and were scrutinizing those who want to enter the premises of the institute.”
Meanwhile, the minister is preparing to host the relevant tourism stakeholders in Abuja this week in order to tackle the knotty policy issues. She had earlier promised to promote public/ private sectors partnership in the tourism industry.
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