Tourism devt will reduce unemployment ----OKOWA
(Nigeria) Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, has underscored the
importance of tourism development towards reducing unemployment in any society.
Okowa stated this in Asaba in a keynote address during the
launching of Senior Secondary Tourism Books for written by the Chairman of the
Board of Directors in the State Tourism Board, Fidelia Salami.
The governor, who was represented on the occasion by the
State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs Rose Ezewu, said that it was
important for the younger ones to know more about tourism policies and business
strategies in order to create market opportunities.
He stated that as a people, there was need to possess
requisite cultural repackaging and resources necessary for the development of
efficient and sustainable tourism sector.
The governor said that his administration was irrevocably
committed to diversifying the state's economy, adding that a properly developed
tourism with service-oriented industries would help to redirect the energies of
youths of nowadays.
He decried the over-dependence on oil sector, and pledged to
ensure that the books would be recommended for use in schools in the state.
Also speaking, former governor of the state, Dr Emmanuel
Uduaghan, recalled that the Delta Beyond Oil initiative of his then administration
was aimed at diversifying the state's economy.
Uduaghan, who underscored the importance of tourism
development to the economic growth of any nation, called on well-meaning
individuals to invest in the tourism industry.
He commended the efforts of the author of the books,
describing it as an ‘uncommon initiative’ to contribute her quota to the
development of the sector.
The former governor, who was the chairman of the occasion
and chief launcher reasoned that for tourism to be pillar of economic
sustenance, it should be included in the schools’ curriculum.
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