Terrorism, Insecurity and the Challenges of Tourism Development in Nigeria
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Date
2016
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Abstract
Tourism has been widely accepted by policy makers and scholars in most countries of the world as a veritable means for national development and employment generation. The acclaimed economic and social potentials of tourism have come into question in more recent times. The problematic is occasioned by experiences of how forms of political instability and insecurity, particularly terrorism, continue to shape the existence of the tourism industry and its capacity to deliver the promised developmental cargo. Nigeria has had its fair share of forms of political violence and criminality, which have had negative impacts on the country as a whole. For instance, oil-related militancy and criminality in the Niger Delta has made the latter almost "ungovernable" space. From the middle belt to the parts of the country, Fulani herdsmen are engaged in a killing spree, with hundreds killed, towns and villages scotched and hundreds displaced. Boko Haram terrorism has reduced the Northeast of the country to a ghost of its former self. Towns and villages have been sacked, and survivors of Boko Haram terrorism live in displaced persons camps. The failure of the Nigerian military to completely eliminate the terror sect, and the latter's capacity to stage terror acts every now and then has dealt a serious blow to any sense of security in the region. Kidnappings in the South East and South West combine with political violence in ways that suggest that the country is an unsafe territory. The effect of criminality and violence on tourism development in the country is severe. Apart from casting Nigeria in bad light globally, widespread violence and criminality hardly encourage foreign direct investments. Moreover,, if uncontrolled, violence has potential to reverse some of the gains and progress already achieved in the tourism development sector since the return to rule in 1999. Presently, social and political instability have become a basis on which western developed countries regularly "advise" their citizens on the need to stay away from certain parts of Nigeria. Citizens of these countries constitute the bulk potential tourists to the country. This article thus canvasses a multi prong approach as the way out of the current menace.
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Terrorism, Insecurity, Challenges, Tourism Development, Visitors, Nigeria