Abstract:
The focus of this paper is on the dangers that corruption has on the sustainable development of tourism sector in Nigeria. While countries like South Africa, Kenya and USA etc. are proud of the contribution of tourism to the economic growth of their nations, Nigeria is still far from realizing it - owing to the problem of corruption. The consequences of these are; slow pace in tourism development, poor community perception of tourism, ineffective workforce, poor infrastructure development, and use obsolete facilities/equipment for tourism activities. Hence, the tourism sector of Nigeria has continued to remain among the most unattractive in Africa and with very low patronage from local to foreign tourists. Despite the call for the diversification of the Nigerian economy by the government, the political-will to implement government policies particularly in the area of tourism has remained a failure. Therefore, it is on this premise that this paper seek to interrogate the problems corruption has posed on the tourism sector of Nigeria. This finds out that the effect of corruption in the tourism sector of Nigeria is high and thus, suggests that the government should give more attention to the tourism sector by increasing financial allocation to the sector to bust its development. There should therefore, be a closer watch on the activities of the sector by making sure that the anti-corruption agencies like Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) pay more attention on the activities of the sector. Non-governmental agencies and tourism stakeholders should also begin to checkmate the activities of the sector.
|