WELCOME TO NIGERIA

(Image Credit: UN multimedia)

Hello there, welcome to Nigeria. I'm Milliscent your tour guide So where do you want us to start? North, east, west, south? (hehe)

First of all, I'd like you to know that today is World Tourism Day. A day set aside by the United Nations to acknowledge the contribution of tourism to the development of the world; economically, culturally, socially, etc. Back to our tour! Well, Nigeria has 36 beautiful states and a federal capital territory, Abuja.

Nigeria is located in Africa, the heart of Africa precisely--no wonder our fans popularly call us the giants of Africa--forgive my geography if it's faulty but I think the co-ordinates are; Nigeria is between latitudes 4 degrees north(4N) and 14 degrees north(14N), and longitudes 3 degrees east(3E) and 15 degrees east(15E). Personally I've visited many regions in Nigeria; I'm from the east, I spent most of my growing years in the west, I did my youth service in the north, and i'm currently living in the south. Talk about an all round Nigerian Yeap! That's me (hehe)

Nigeria has so many natural wonders locked in her air, land, and sea. And these wonders are scattered across the 36 states of Nigeria--God is fair God I must say. The Northern part of Nigeria can be generally hot; okay I mean really hot. But then, it can be also get cold; I mean cold enough to send chills down your spine(hehe) what a unique climate. The middle belt is like in between the climate of the south and north, in fact many tourists who visit Nigeria stay in the middle belt because, it's similar to what you have overseas. It's got this summer and winter feel and you occasionally see teenagers walking around in their hoodie in the afternoon--Yeah, it's that chill.

There is lead, gold, coal, crude oil, etc in Nigeria. We've got so many minerals that we don't know the one to harness (lol). I know in the news you hear only about crude oil, but trust me we've got so many others bigger than crude oil in Nigeria.

Gate to the Obudu cattle ranch

Despite these many blessings, we still have a problem. Yeah we do, many people around the world still don't come running to see us just like they run to see Bahamas, or Dubai, and I don't mean to sound jealous but I've been thinking about this for a while and I couldn't just pin point anything as the prime reason; I made some guesses though.

I think maybe it's our poor roads. I mean, the life span of a car in Nigeria is low compared to the life span in many parts of the world. This can be another reason tourists are running away. Or is it because we don't have stable electricity? Uhuh? The power just trips off in the middle of the football match or that movie and we all scream; ''Oh! Nepa''. Though we are all used to it, I don't think it's really something that can invite tourists.

Maybe it's even the fear of being kidnapped or killed. Aha! That one, the rise in terrorism and militancy has really put a black paint over the beautiful colours we tried to paint on Nigeria during the re-branding campaign. There's so much insecurity in most parts of the country and I don't think any tourist will like to be abducted and treated harshly or even killed in a suicide bombers attack. I also think it might be our poor management of these tourist attractions; I saw a zoo the other day without animals. Just a few skinny monkeys sleeping because they were starving. I mean, if these attractions are not kept clean; if the beaches don't have sand and if the waterfall has been covered by a thick bush, what will invite the tourist then?

Group of international tourists at the Yankari National Park

I might be wrong you know, I mean those were just guesses, but I really wish people will start flooding Nigeria again like they rush to the Bahamas, or Dubai, or even Kenya Let's make Nigeria a tourist destination.