Lagos tourism: The cemetery of tourism bright minds

 “It is in the black race that you find promotion of the inferior and demotion of the superior. There are many shining lights among the black men that have been completely buried. The land of the black man is the bread winners’ cemetery” – Dr. Daniel Olukoya, General Overseer, MFM.

The above time tested prophetic description of the black race by Dr. Daniel Olukoya, the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM), clearly and pointedly marked out the seeming waste of key drives of Lagos tourism in the past ten years. As it is in Lagos, so it was also at the federal level where Nigeria’s brightest minds in tourism business were usually demoted and the inferior promoted to the shame of nation and people of Nigeria.

Indeed, Dr. Olukoya’s recent and latest book “Power against the enemy opposed to your shining” which is hot on the shelf truly captures the satanic template ravaging Nigeria’s leadership which sacrifices the best minds to the glorification of the mundane, hence the failings and stagnancy that heralds our economic and political efforts. This piece is not about Dr. Olukoya but a strategic link of his recent research findings generously expressed in that book from which we drew inspiration to highlight and bring into the public domain the dangerous trend and consequences of the hasty decision by Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode to drop his Commissioner for Tourism, Mr. Folorunsho Folarin Coker last week.

As a tourism Journalist, the “dropping” of a flourishing and creative aide in the person of Folarin Coker is neither a thought – through or progressive but a massive deep hole and draw-back in Lagos under Governor Ambode who wishes to rewrite the history and conversation about a projected Lagos smart city as tourism destination. Maybe, my likes do not understand the political culture of Lagos government, and how progressive and deep minds such as Folarin Coker were discovered and mandated to drive tourism new business, the truth however remains that Lagos sacrificing its best, it’s very “Superior” for the promotion of the “Inferior” is tragic and benumbing to tourism enthusiasts and global watchers of development strides in Lagos, Africa’s supposed emerging business hub.

Yes, apologists to this tragic administrative template may point out that “hiring and firing” of key stewards in government is not peculiar to Lagos state government or African leaders in general but finds it hard to explain the dispositions elsewhere in the world where leadership is about mentoring and the quest to place brilliance above mediocrity in the execution and delivery of developmental projects to the immediate and future benefits of the people.

There is no denying the truth that Folarin Coker brought refreshing new promotional templates to Lagos tourism and in the past one year, has taken bold steps to change the content and marketing of Lagos tourism not only to Nigerians but to a jittery competitive tourism minders in Africa, particularly from the south and east coast of Africa who monopolized tourism traffic to the continent but saw in Folarin a veritable driver of a potentially octopus Lagos tourism that would change the tourism traffic, destination ranking and spending in Africa.

Governor Ambode, by letting Folarin, go has arrested Lagos tourism revolution and dreams to the advantages of destination managers and drives from the southern end of Africa tourism competition. Sadly, the thinking of outsiders to the business of tourism that unexplainable political considerations do not impact on future growth and tourism value chain of a potential viable destination such as Lagos, runs deep in the blood group of Lagos government which has continuously made it difficult for sponsors of business to create effective, sustainable and bankable tourism profile for Lagos as it is done in other climes where tourism sensitiveness drives socioeconomic and political decisions.

Today, Lagos, by that political administrative insensitivity, is back to square one and there is no telling that next man or woman on the tourism beat would not go down the Lagos tourism cemetery. To be specific, Governor Ambode has just triggered off the warning alarm to potential partners and sponsors of Lagos tourism that he is not ready to sustain and rebrand Lagos as Africa’s major tourism destination.

As a man of figures, maybe Ambode failed to appreciate that One Lagos, love Lagos and Lagos fiesta brand have all become competitive economic boardroom decisions in most corporate Organization in Nigeria and in Africa. These decisions where programmed to yield jobs, create new revenue lines, sustain legacies in new businesses and open up water fronts cities and properties, and a refreshing template of outdoor recreation and gastronomy culture that interprets economic diplomacy and attract the world to “New Lagos”

To all intent and purposes, Folarin Coker has got nothing to lose in this administrative “Mistake” ditto Governor Ambode but it is Lagos and her tourism loving people that have been short-changed. It was Babatunde Fashola that began this process when he also “threw away” the pragmatic Tokunbo Afikuyomi, his then commissioner for tourism, and replaced him with a hollowed mind who did nothing worthwhile for Lagos tourism.

Honestly, I wonder how many more bright minds Lagos would bury in its tourism cemetery in years to come and the consequences to the development of new private sector driven tourism in Lagos State. To plead to Governor Ambode to change his decision over Folarin Coker could be likened to a man who deliberately jumbled head long into Lake Victoria or playing the devil’s advocate by tempting the governor to see from the mountain top the huge gold mine down the valley of tourism Lagos.

So the end game here is that Ambode has nailed his Lagos tourism dream to the cross. And even if he finds another Folarin Coker, we wait to see those who will believe that he can remain faithful and sustain a veritable and rock solid tourism blue print and “unshakable team”.