The National President, National Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, ITPN, Mr. Abiodun Odusanwo has called for synergy between government agencies and other sub-sectors involved in tourism drive in the country.

Mr. Odusanwo says tourism is a multi-sectoral activity that creates wealth for most nations of the world.

“For example, if you are looking for a particular tourist attraction, people need to get there by road or by air. For ensuring that those roads are passable is actually the work of another place entirely. And if you look into a single tourism activity for example like a festival happening somewhere like a town, then people will have to travel, that will stimulate our intension, people will have to buy clothes for that event, people will have to buy food. So, a single tourism activity can cause a spill-over effect on other sectors of the economy”.

In a bid to push the National President, National Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria ITPN, mandate of using tourism as a tool for promoting and encouraging economic growth in the country, the Institute for Tourism Professionals of Nigeria, ITPN, is organizing the National Tourism Transport Summit and Expo in Abuja, Nigeria.

The two-day summit with the theme “African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA: Strengthening Connectivity, Effects and Partnership” is organized to galvanized ideas to generally improve the sector in Africa.

Mr. Odusanwo said that the summit is to ensure that “those in the tourism sector have the skills, training and the under-lining knowledge to drive and practice tourism successfully”.

He noted that there is connectivity between the tourism and transportation sectors, hence the need for the summit which was agreed to in 2017.

“The idea behind is just to promote connectivity between transport and tourism. When you talk about transportation we are looking at all modes of transport, whether be it’s by road, by air, by sea and other forms of transportation.

“if you look at the case of a typical traveler, maybe there is somewhere you have to drive canoe to get through that part, that form the part you now have to take road transport to get to the airport, from the airport you have to fly. You see that for a single traveler, you experience different modes of transportation that’s why there is need for connectivity between transportation and tourism sectors”.

 In line with the AfCFTA, Mr. Odusanwo said that the summit will address collaborations between relevant gate keepers and standard control authorities such as immigration, customs and other vetenary controls.

 “We have to train our people to have the skills to be able to one: increase the quality of production in Nigeria.

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC in Ebonyi State Southeast Nigeria has embarked on another environmental sanitation exercise in the State.

This was contained in an address to Newsmen by the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Ibrahim Shaibu, represented by the NYSC State Coordinator, Mrs Mercy Bamai Dawuda in Abakaliki the state capital.

Shaibu said environmental sanitation has been recognized globally as one of the key requirements for prevention of diseases and their escalation to epidemic proportion.

He informed that efforts must be stepped up to enlighten the general public, especially the rural dwellers, on the health risks of poor hygiene with particular focus on the prevention of contamination of food, water and the entire environment.

“To achieve this, every member of the community will have to be mobilized for participation in the exercise which will feature sensitization, disease surveillance and report of outbreaks; disinfection of the environment – living rooms, toilets, public spaces; handling of toxic materials; how best to handle bush burning, pollution and waste disposal as well as tree planting to support health ecosystem” he said.

Medical Outreach

Moreso, he said It is heart-warming to note that communities that benefited from the NYSC medical outreaches have been sharing testimonies of the enormous impact of the programme.

“I wish to assure Nigerians that we will not rest on our oars as we continue to offer health and other services, including environmental protection. I am particularly hopeful about the prospects of this exercise because with regular sanitation, malaria and other related diseases will be reduced to the barest minimum”.

He thanked the State Governments, traditional rulers, community leaders, NYSC staff, Corps members and other stakeholders for supporting this noble cause.

The theme of the programme is “Clean Environment/Good Hygiene: Panacea for Good Health and Long Life.”

A new report by the National Bureau of Statistics states that the average retail price for cooking gas increased by 83.62 per cent from N2057.71 in March 2021.

The report titled, “Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch (March 2022),” indicated that the average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas stood at N3778.30 in March 2022, from N3708.58 recorded in February 2022, showing an increase of 1.88 percent month-on-month.

According to the state profile analysis, the highest average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG was recorded in Ekiti with N4,200, followed by Niger with N4163.33 and Imo with N4150.00.

On the other hand, Adamawa recorded the lowest average price with N2604.01, followed by Yobe and Kano with N2740.00 and N3300.00 respectively.

In addition, prices analysed by zones show that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of LPG was highest in the South-East with N3992.56, followed by the South-West with N3900.55 and South-South, N3877.08, while North-East recorded the lowest average retail price with N3419.37.

The average price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG increased to N7617.71 in March 2022, from N7447.79 in February 2022, representing a 2.28 per cent month-on-month increase. Similarly, on year-on-year basis, the average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cooking gas increased by 74.75 per cent, from N4359.23 in March 2021.

The state analysis showed that the highest average retail price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG was recorded in Osun at N8782.14, followed by Oyo with N8400.00 and Katsina, with N8300.00.

Conversely, the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder of LPG was recorded in Borno at N6100.00, followed by Akwa Ibom and Cross River whose prices were N6840.91 and N6865.91 respectively.

The average retail price of a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas by zones showed that the average retail price was highest in the South-West with N7892.40, followed by the North-Central and North-West with N7657.22 and N7533.91 respectively. The South-South Zone recorded the lowest price of N7091.61.