By Chinelo Obogo, [email protected]
For years running, travel consultants, through their union, the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), have pushed for a dedicated regulatory blueprint to govern their operations.
They want something outside the oversight jurisdiction of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the overall industry umpire, in view of the peculiarities of their operations.
Unfortunately, their efforts are yet to yield the desired results as successive administrations have literally junked the idea of passing the Travel Regulatory Act (TRA), a development they said was hurting their operations and robbing Nigerians better service offerings.
Although travel trade associations in countries like South Africa and Kenya, prefer to remain voluntary instead of being regulated by the government, in Nigeria the situation is different.
NANTA believes that a legal framework would benefit consumers and also help create a better business environment for all travel agencies and generally promote healthy competition.
At a recent media briefing to announce its forthcoming Annual General Meeting, the NANTA president, Mrs. Susan Akporiaye, explained why the organisation has been unable to get an Act that regulates the association’s operations many years after it embarked on the journey.
Akporiaye, who is at the twilight of her tenure as NANTA boss, said her administration was more concerned about the survival of members’ businesses and how to help them recover from the devastating effects of COVID-19 that vandalised the global travel business (including Nigeria), than pursuing the passage of an Act, which seemed like a fruitless venture.
NANTA Act
“My administration did not push for the Act because every association has its focus. We have already spent a lot of money in the past two NANTA administrations back to back trying to get the Act passed into law and I felt it was not wise if my administration continued to pursue it. I remember my administration had to contend with covid, business was down and my members were afraid for their lives. Nobody knew what was going to happen. I don’t think it was the right time to pursue the Act for the third time in a row. We ran into financial issues and also, it was going to be insensitive because the world was faced with a disease that we didn’t understand and everybody was struggling for survival. So it would have been insensitive if my administration continued spending money on the Act.
“Two previous presidents of NANTA pushed the Act. During Aminu Agoha’s presidency, we came up with the Act and got aviation lawyers to help us look at it. We had advice from experts and a prominent aviation lawyer. We went ahead with it and it went through the first, second and third reading at the National Assembly and somehow, it did not scale through.
“The Bankole Bernard administration also picked it up again and this time around we were very optimistic. We were even celebrating at that point that finally we had our Act which the eight National Assembly had passed and it was on the President’s table for assent. Unfortunately, we never heard anything from the presidency afterwards.
“When I emerged president, my administration decided we would not continue spending money pursuing the Act, so we were focused on building members. We just came out from a horrendous covid situation and there was a healing process that needed to be done. We were in a survival mode. It would have been gross irresponsibility and very insensitive to have pursued that Act at that time. Of course, they reached out to me that I am now the President and we can continue with the Act. I said, no, we cannot continue but maybe the next president can pursue it. I am not saying that we should not have the Act but we had some aviation lawyers who advised us against it and they gave their reasons. But we still went ahead because it was something the members wanted. I was not ready for the trouble and the money was not there to pursue it and to start afresh was everything.
“The next question I asked myself is can we function effectively without the Act and deep within me the answer is yes. All we need is unity. As I said, the Act is very important. It is something that we will still look into and maybe the next administration will start to take that headache but I was not ready for that after doing it twice, I ran the race of the Act during Aminu Agoha’s administration. I also ran the race for the Act again during Bankole Bernard’s administration,” Akporiaye said.
Dealing with quacks
On dealing with quacks, Akporiaye said NANTA is taking a firm stance against unqualified operators in the travel industry and that in collaboration with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), they’ve established a task force to identify and remove “quack” agencies.
“We are walking with the regulator and we came up with a task force to assist in weeding out quacks in the travel industry. This means that if you don’t have NCAA certification, it would be assumed that you are a quack and one of the criteria for having NCAA certification is that you must be a NANTA member. Before you become a NANTA member, you would have to submit your CAC documentation, we would verify, do office inspection and you would get a referral from a financial member of NANTA. You must also attend at least three physical meetings, so, if you are a quack, there is no way that you would be able to scale these processes. We don’t approve everyone, it is only when you qualify that you would be approved,” she said.
Travel show
On its forthcoming AGM to be held in Lagos from April 23-27, 2024, Akporiaye said NANTA would host its inaugural Intra-Africa Exhibition under the theme, “Unlocking Africa’s Economic Potentials: Travel and Tourism as catalyst for intra Africa Business Investment and Trade.”
She said the event aims to spotlight Nigeria’s tourism offerings to the continent and beyond and is envisioned as a sustainable platform to link Africa and Nigeria with the global market. The exhibition is a travel show and will feature participation from the tourism boards of Morocco, Rwanda, Gambia, Uganda, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa.
She underscored its alignment with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agenda, aiming to promote intra-African trade and tourism. Among those expected are the High Commissioner, Namibia, Mr. Humphery Geiseb who will be the keynote speaker and special guest and also speak on, ‘Destination Africa: Exploring Technology and Innovation Driven Tourism, A Call to Action for Professionals in Travel and Tourism.’
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo and his Tourism counterpart, Lola Ade John will deliver lectures, while the chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, will speak on collaborative strategies for aviation stakeholders and professionals within SAATM policy and economic framework and the founder of Akwaaba Travel Market, Ikechi Uko, will speak on identifying business, trade, and investment prospects in emerging Africa travel and tourism markets.
“This is our own way of trying to force the hand of the government to begin to look into tourism. We can talk from now till tomorrow but if we don’t do anything, we are going nowhere. We need to back up our talk with action,” she said.