NTDA, NIPR Join Forces To Advance Tourism Using Nigeria’s High Score In Culture Reputation Index

Light Nwobodo

Nigeria’s rich culture has again been identified as a catalyst for tourism development.

Nigeria came out tops in culture amongst other global indices deployed by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations via the Nigeria Reputation Management Group (NRMG) to measure Reputation Perception of the country according to its President and Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku.

Dr. Neliaku while receiving a delegation from the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) led by the Director General, Mr. Ola Awakan, agreed that culture remains the cornerstone of tourism development revealing that Nigeria’s culture scored highest among seven pillars used to measure reputation index by his institution. 

He commended Awakan for engaging storytelling as a way of promoting Nigeria’s vast culture and tourism potential saying both were intertwined and inseparable.

The PR expert noted that his institute will collaborate with NTDA to redefine the narrative admonishing Nigerians to be good ambassadors of the country.

“Tourism is a soft power of influence that we must take full advantage of and I will like to charge NTDA to always be at the forefront of setting the agenda especially when engaging celebrities and influencers who have the capacity to run with wrong narratives about the country,” he opined.

On his part, Awakan thanked the NIPR boss for hosting him saying Nigeria has a pivotal role to play in Africa and PR professionals are critical to achieving the purpose.

Awakan said, “We have dedicated platforms to tell our stories like NITOUREY which will be commissioned by Mr. President soon and we will continue to engage the private sector through viable PPP initiatives to ensure sustainability.”