Nigeria sets up LOC on African Tourism Ministers meeting

ITREALMS:

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the planning committee for the 61st Meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation/CAF taking place in Abuja, Nigeria, 4th-6th June 2018, reports ITRealms.

The Minister, who performed the ceremony in Abuja on Tuesday, charged members of the committee to ensure the success of the event.

"Today's inauguration kick-starts our preparation for the hosting of the (UNWTO/CAF Meeting). The task ahead of us is enormous, but with the quality membership of the Planning Committee, we are up to the task and we will host a successful event,'' he said.

"You have been selected based on your knowledge and expertise in content, logistics and planning. Your role is to execute a successful event with professional inputs and assistance from the Ministry and the UNWTO. I have no doubt that you will take your assignments very seriously," Alhaji Mohammed said.

The Minister also said in a press statement made available to ITRealms by Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Segun Adeyemi the hosting right of the event, which was given to Nigeria, has clearly demonstrated the confidence of the CAF member states and the UNWTO in the country.

He said the highlight of Nigeria's relevance and acceptance by the Organization, within two years of its return after a period of absence, was further shown in his election as a Vice Chairman of the UNWTO General Assembly at an election held during the 22nd session of the UNWTO General Assembly in Chengdu, China, in September 2017.

Alhaji Mohammed said the UNWTO meeting will afford the country the unique opportunity to project its image as a safe and desirable destination for leisure and business as well as promote the country’s tourism products and services.

He said the meeting will also provide a platform for tourism stakeholders to interact with their counterparts from other countries, generate foreign exchange through accommodation in hotels, airfares and souvenirs purchased by foreign delegates, create direct and indirect employment, thereby alleviating poverty, and provide the platform for the training for public and private sector tourism officials.

Membership of the planning committee cuts across the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Federal Capital Territory, extra-ministerial departments and agencies as well as the private sector.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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Lanre Alabi heads Nigerian Online Merit Award LOC

ITREALMS:

The strategy and marketing Communications expert, Mr. Lanre Alabi, has been appointed Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the maiden Nigerian Online Merit Award (NiOMA) scheduled for the second quarter of 2018, reports ITRealms.

The initiators of the award, News Express online newspaper, disclosed to ITRealms that Mr. Alabi, who is the chief executive officer, Prospers Strategy, a Lagos-based international marketing communications firm, was chosen to oversee the awards on account of his vast experience in brand building and management, business communications, marketing, banking, high profile journalism, as well as consulting.

“A former President of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), Lanre Alabi is proficient in a variety of communication skills, including PR strategy development and execution, advertising, internal and external communications, social media strategy and execution, writing and media relations. We are confident that he will deploy his over 28 years hands-on experience into galvanising the Organising Committee to deliver a successful NiOMA and thereafter grow it into a dominant brand,” the statement signed by News Express Publisher Isaac Umunna said.

Umunna described NiOMA as a unique awards designed to recognise and celebrate excellence among all those who have anything to do online – be they individuals or corporates.

“Details of the 2018 NiOMA, including date, venue and categories, will be made public by the Organising Committee in due course,” Umunna said.

Uj. N. Dominic/ED, Ops

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pix: Isaac Umunna, publisher, News Express.

Nigeria gets LOC on GiTEX Technology Show, Dubai

ITRealms:

In order to fully take advantage offered by the annual GiTEX Technology Show which holds in Dubai in October, Nigeria has set up the GiTEX Local Organising Committee (LOC) as the official country partner, reports ITRealms.

GiTEX Technology, ITRealms pride itself as the premier technology event in the Middle East Africa and South Asia (MEASA).

The technology trade show occupies over 78,000 sqm of space, and records over 145,530 trade visitors from 144 countries in 2013. Also, more than 35,000 visitors came from Africa in the 2013 edition of GITEX where Nigeria premiered its presence by setting up the Nigerian Pavilion which was promoted by the Nigerian Government through the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

This year, ITRealms equally gathered that Nigeria is renew its 2013 presence as Official Country Partner to become the centre of thematic activities for the five day technology expo and conference in Dubai.

The LOC is tasked with ensuring Nigeria’s successful participation through pre-show work-plans. While inaugurating the LOC in Abuja last week, the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack, said NITDA has a new vision and the agency would genuinely pursue IT development aggressively to position Nigeria in the global society.

He said Nigeria’s presence at Gitex would offer the opportunity to explore international opportunities for collaborations and investments that would further advance Nigeria’s burgeoning IT sector.

“NITDA is determined to position Nigeria in that light, and would work through multilateral stakeholders approach to get everyone involved and achieve our core goals at NITDA,” he said, imploring the committee to do all they could to make Nigeria’s presence at GiTEX 2014 a success and assured of government’s support for IT development at all levels, while stressing the need for inter-agencies collaboration and synergy.

“It is in the spirit of partnership that NITDA has invited other agencies to be part of this preparation and we believe that this is imperative to achieve best results,” said Jack to the committee members.

According to ITRealms, the LOC members were drawn from different private and public sectors organizations including Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), Computer Professional Registration Council (CPN), Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS), Nigeria Satellite Communications Limited (NigComSat), and Information Technology Industries Association of Nigeria (ITAN).

Others are Pinnacle Consult LLC and Knowhow Media International – both marketing and media consultants on Nigeria’s participation at Gitex 2014.

Members at the inauguration meeting of the LOC include Chairman of the LOC, Dr. Olatunji Vincent, NITDA; Mr. Yele Okeremi, ISPON; Mr. Mohammed Audu, NIPC; Segun Oruame, Knowhow Media, Mrs. Mary Uduma, NIRA; Tunde Bello, Federal Ministry of Agriculture; Mr. Yelwa Idris, NITDA; Mr. Mohammed Agbali, NITDA; Mrs. Hadiza Umar, NITDA; Mr. Abass Fufore, CPN; Mr. Jide Awe, NCS; Ms. Nwigbo Happiness, CPN; Mr.Abu Agbo Andrew NACOSS; Okafor Chukwuemeka, NACOSS; Olorogun James, ISPON; and Amalu Ikechukwu, NigComSat. 

Chairman of the LOC, Dr. Olatunji said it was important for all stakeholders to come together to drive Nigeria’s participation as the official country partner for Gitex 2014. He said there was a need for all stakeholders to strongly get everybody who has something innovating to showcase at Gitex to use it as a global platform to show the world what Nigerians are doing. 

For Mr. Oruame who later coordinated the meeting said preparations had begun already since Nigeria officially enlisted to be partner for Gitex 2014 and said there was need for the committee to expedite actions to meet up with the demands of the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organisers of Gitex to ensure that deadlines for all preparatory items are met. 

The LOC stressed the importance of early marketing and publicity activities as the committee works on actualizing the necessary roadshows to engage local stakeholders in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja and Enugu where the NCS conference will be holding in July this year.

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