Getting a grip on the (oil) multinationals will also help tourism development in Nigeria.

The news of last week made me happy! In a victory for environmentalists and Nigerians whose land was polluted by oil leaks, a Dutch appeals court ordered energy giant Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary to compensate farmers in two villages for damage to their land caused by leaks in 2004 and 2005.

This is good news for the people and the environment in the Niger Delta. The livelihoods of people living there was affected. For the farmers this has been a nightmare for their business and the worse thing is that they could not go into other business either.

Altough a lot of farmers have been looking at tourism as a way to diversify and become less independent from the oil multinations, they must be mindful of the multinational power that is also present in the field of tourism. I wrote an article about this for a conference I was attending in Lagos, Nigeria in 2017:

Tourism as the new oil in Lagos, Nigeria?

By Elke Dens

Chairperson, Europe Travel Commission

 Nigeria is the largest oil and gas producer in Africa. It contributes for 9% to the gdp, and represents almost 90% of the export. Fully aware of the success, the government of Nigeria is trying to diversify their economy and be less dependent of the one and only oil industry. They are trying to bring money into the country via non-oil industries. Tourism could be a very good answer.

With agriculture representing already 27% of the GDP of Nigeria it takes a small step to broaden these activities and open up to visitors. With a clear objective to strengthen agro-tourism in Lagos, my dear friend Solomon is doing the right thing. He organizes international conferences with the aim to get more support for development of agritourism in his country Nigeria, and his city Lagos.

As far as the country is concerned there are so many opportunities. There are farm settlements in Kaduna where people stay for the purpose of farming and trading. They bring their own goods like garri, plantain, banana, maize, wheat, palm oil to sell to travelers on transit to sell it to travelers on transit. Actually a lot of trading in Nigeria is done on the road. Instead of bringing the goods to the travelers we could invite the travelers to go to the place where this is made.

Of course most international visitors arrive in the capital Abuja or Lagos, the biggest city in the whole of Africa. Instead of building new cities out of nothing like they plan to do in Rwanda in 2020 with the green city project (aka Wakanda), it makes perfect sense to further develop the current cities and embrace and bridge to the countryside, when you think in tourism terms. I’ve seen great developments in Lagos, but also segregated new development area’s with new roads and buildings, like Lekki, compared to the neighborhood were I stayed, Festac, where the road development was still poor.

Therefore it was no surprise that I have got the most enthusiasm for my preventative by the representative, the older-man for infrastructure, because tourism is a great help in the development of basis infrastructure, a basic need for a city that carries 30 M people.

The other speakers at the conference were glad to mention the number of international hotelbrands that opened in Lagos, like Marriott and Sheraton, which for them is a necessity. I am not saying it is not a necessity, but I do hope that with the rise of tourism growth there is also a rise in accommodation that will benefit the people from Nigeria.

Like with the oil, although extracted in Nigeria, the most profit (money) will be fueled to international companies, like Shell. You do not want the same for a non-oil industry to just extract all your (human) resources and fuel the profit(money) to international companies?

Also there agritourism could be of help, but of course also additional type of accommodation, like familyhotes, and why not AirBnB (if they are willing to start from the same level playing field), because it will help people to improve their situation by sharing their house.

And I think there is much more potential in Lagos if you look at the enormous amount of creative industries. Look at the fashion industry ! Or if you listen to where they took the music, from very original Nigerian instruments to the heartbeat of Afropop.This year the International Jazz Festival was organized in Lagos with the theme: Music And Creative Arts are used As Tools In Addressing Illegal and Irregular Migration Amongst Nigerian’s Youths”.

And as every harbor city it has had major influences from around the globe, not in the least everything that came from the Congo River. And let’s not forget the darker history as the place of embarquement for African slaves which makes it a very interesting place to visit.

Basically, tourism can definitely contribute to the development and the empowerment of rural communities, generating revenue, reducing poverty, helping people to become more proud. Hence contributing to the SDG's.

My only hope is that the government of Nigeria is not solely led by the economic growth and prosperity on the short term, and really looks at the long term net benefit for the people living in Nigeria.

Needless to say that it can be strange for some tourists travelling to a country that is known for having the largest oil production in Africa to be faced with a power shut down a few hours a day. On the other side, once you know it’s part of the live of the Nigerians to sit by candles, you put it in a positive perspective. You are not consuming the place. You are living it like a local. And tourist that cannot appreciate it, are maybe not the guests Nigeria is ready for? Tourism has never been established to enrich others. So, please don’t make tourism the new oil of Nigeria. And make sure all the gain goes to you! Your hospitals deserve all electricity they need to save the lifes of the Nigerian people. That’s a meaningful step towards making people of Nigeria flourish.