Hours after President Muhammadu Buhari signed Senator Matthew Urhogide’s Bill into law, encomiums have continued to pour in for the senator representing Edo South senatorial district.
The Bill which he sponsored is now an Act named: ‘An Act to Provide for the Establishment of the National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) and for Other Matters Connected thereto 2017 (SB. 380)’.
The Bill was finally signed into law on June 19, 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari, after several previous efforts to accord it presidential assent failed. It is critical for the deepening and professionalization of the hospitality industry through the establishment of an Institute for capacity building and skills enhancement.
Already,the Directors-General, past and present, of the National Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, NIHOTOUR; the entire staffers of the institute; the staffers of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism; staffers of the Education Ministry; proprietors of hospitality businesses; stakeholders in the tourism industry and several other Nigerians have been congratulating Senator Urhoghide for the success of the Bill.
Senator Urhoghide, a pharmacist and Fellow of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) initiated the Bill in 2017 in his capacity as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism. The Bill is also one of the Bills relating to educational institutions that Senator Urhoghide sponsored in the 8th Senate. Recall that Senator Urhoghide’s last act before the senate closed officially for the 2018 Christmas break was the initiation of a Bill for the establishment of a University of Education in Abudu, Orhionmwon Local Government Area, Edo State. Senator Urhoghide is one of the very few senators of the 8th Senate that initiated Bills that were passed into law.
On the strength of the Bill, NIHOTOUR had, on four different occasions in the period when the Bill was under consideration, undertaken the training of over 3,700 youths, men and women in Edo South Senatorial District in different fields of the tourism spectrum.