Mohammed Shosanya
Alhaji Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information and National Orientation has frowned at United States issuance of Travel Advisories to its citizens in Nigeria,saying the development is counterproductive to the country’s investment drive and tourism.
He said it was wrong for the United States to switch to panic mode by issuing Travel Advisories to its citizens, often generalizing isolated incident across the entire hospitality industry.
According to him, such advisories from experience, serve little or no value except to spread needless panic,while dealing severe blows on efforts by government to attract investment and boost the tourism industry.
The minister,who expressed his displeasure at a recent advisory by the US during a media engagement with journalists, Monday in abuja, stress that the frequent alarm is undermining effort to attract investors and steer the ailing economy out of the woods.
He said,the advisory do not take into account effort by government to secure citizens and visitors alike , pointing out that the federal government prioritizes the safety and security of its visitors .
He added:”We understand the concerns raised by the United States government in their recent travel advisory, but believe that it is imperative that we do not generalize isolated incidents across the entire hospitality industry.
“What we have seen is that such advisories do not achieve anything other than needless panic, and they can have severe adverse economic impact, not to talk of what they do to undermine the government’s efforts to attract investment.
“We have consistently prioritized the safety and well-being of all visitors to our country. We have implemented comprehensive security measures, both at the Federal and State levels, to ensure the safety of tourists and international guests.
“These measures include intense intelligence gathering, acquisition and deployment of additional platforms, training and re-training of personnel, cooperation with international law enforcement agencies, among others, to maintain a secure environment”.
Commenting on the general security of the country, the minister said the security agencies had made great strides in combating the menace of bandits and terrorists in various parts of the north during the short span of the life of the present administration, with many insurgents neutralized by the troops.
“The Nigeria government is dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of all Nigerians and visitors to our country and will continue to work towards maintaining a secure and hospitable environment for tourists and business travelers and the likes. Our security agencies have been very busy, doing their best to keep us all safe. I will highlight just a few of those successes in recent days:
“In various parts of Kaduna State, seven bandits were neutralized, in various operations between the 1st and 3rd of November. In Kano State, on November 3, a joint operation by troops of the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services carried out a dawn raid operation on terrorists’ hideout in Gezawa Local Government Area, successfully averting an imminent attack on Kano by insurgents.
“The operation recovered AK 47 Rifles, AK 47 Rifle Magazines, a Rocket Propelled Gun (RPG), RPG Bombs, Hand Grenades, Improvised Explosive Device (IED)-making materials, among others.
In Katsina, two NYSC members abducted by bandits were successfully rescued.
In the North-East and North-West of the country, the Nigerian Air Force has been very busy, with several successful airstrikes on bandits’ and terrorists’ camps and hideouts in Katsina, Zamfara and Borno States.
The Air Force has also recently taken delivery of 4 new aircraft, to strengthen the fight against banditry and terrorism” he discussed.
He enjoined the media men to be wary of reporting unverified news items assuring the the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a democrat, is committed to freedom of press in all it’s ramifications.
Speaking on the recently concluded presidential retreat, the Information Minister said the retreat has helped the administration to impanel strategies towards attaining eight key thematic areas of the renewed hope agenda vis-a-viz cardinal directions of the administration.
“At the end of the cabinet Retreat, a performance bond was signed, outlining key performance indicators by which ministries and departments of the Federal Government will be assessed.
” The President also directed the reactivation of the Presidential Delivery Tracker, with the specific instruction that cutting-edge digital technology be deployed to empower Nigerians to monitor and track in real-time the implementation of Federal Government projects across the country.”