Imo commissioner emphasises importance of hotels, cultural centres

September 21, 2012 16:49

NAN-H-72

Hotels

Owerri, Sept. 21, 2012 (NAN) The Imo Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mrs Ugochi Nnanna-Okoro, has stressed the importance of hotels, saying they are sites for tourism and points of first-call for investors.

Speaking in Owerri on Friday at a meeting with Fast Food Holders and Hoteliers Association, Nnanna-Okoro said hotels helped to reduce the burden of unemployment and not a place for immoral activities as many believed.

She said that hotels were no places of prostitution as workers in the industry were not permitted to lead immoral lives or work against the laws governing them.

She called for thorough cleanliness in every hotel as a relaxation point, adding: ``Hotels that have chalets should endeavour to keep their environment clean.”

Nnanna-Okoro advised the hoteliers to be security conscious, and to watch out for kidnappers, adding that hotels were hide outs for kidnappers.

``If you have a business strategy, your hotel will grow. But you must first find and fight these kidnappers in the state. Be always alert in and outside the hotel environment,” she advised.

The commissioner also said that the meeting was in preparation for the World Tourism Day to be held in the state on Sept. 27.

She urged the hoteliers to be part of the programme, adding that lectures would be delivered on the management of hotels.

Responding, the chairman of the association, Mr Ishmael Nweke, said that hoteliers were not difficult people to handle, adding that they always cooperated with the government.

In a related development, the commissioner also said the state government would establish cultural centres in the three geo-political zones of the state and in The Diaspora.

Nnanna-Okoro disclosed this when members of Renaissance Group of Imo, a non-governmental organisation, paid her a visit.

She said the centres would serve as platform for acculturating the Igbo to embrace their language and culture.

She noted that the centres would be places for the teaching of Igbo language to Igbo children and their parents in urban areas and for those outside the shores of Africa.

Nnanna-Okoro explained that the ministry had put in place the machinery to revive, preserve and promote Igbo language and culture.

She further pointed out that the people of Igbo land were known for being industrious in different skills, but regretted that recently ``Igbo youths preferred the get-rich-quick syndrome’’.

``As a result, they end up in vices like kidnapping, stealing and prostitution. Cultural re-orientation is the solution to the country’s problem,” she explained.

The commissioner extolled the leadership qualities of Gov. Rochas Okorocha for not relenting in rescuing and transforming the state’s tourism potential, pointing out that soon Tinapa would be replicated in the state.

The leader of the NGO, Mr Marcus Onwuanaibe, described the group as a melting pot aimed at sensitising the electorate to utilise their voting rights.

He said it was also to ensure that the will of the people prevailed in getting rid of bad candidates during election processes.

Onwuanaibe commended the commissioner for her contribution to the development of the ministry. (NAN)

CC/CEO/FNN/MVO