February 19, (THEWILL) – The President of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria, FTAN, Mr. Nkereuwem Onung, has said that the Federation will continue to partner with Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) in order to maintain international best practices in the tourism sector in Nigeria.
Onung disclosed this when he paid a visit with the members of his Executive to the Director General of the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Ifeanyi Chukwunonso, at the headquarters of the organisation in Abuja.
During the visit, the President of FTAN thanked SON for the level of collaboration and support the private sector has enjoyed in the past. He expressed hope that the partnership between the Federation and SON will take a better turn even with this administration.
Nkereuwem stated that the collaboration has given Nigeria a great opportunity to chair one of the prestigious seats in the ARSO TC. Nkereuwem is currently a co-chair with his counterpart from Uganda, while 6 other Nigerians have just been elected into the positions of conveners and secretaries of technical committee sub-group.
According to Nkereuwem, these were possible because of the good working relationship between the private sector and SON.
Nkereuwem said that the duty of conformity and compliance is not very easy, especially in the face of the level of corruption bedevilling various sectors of the economy. He, however, strongly believes that with the new management of the organisation, things will be done right and results achieved within a short period of time.
He promised the support and collaboration of the tourism private sector in the upcoming conference to be organised by the Standard Organisation in March.
Responding to the presentation, the DG thanked the tourism practitioners for the visit and promised that the cordial relationship the FTAN has been enjoying from his predecessors will not stop in his time, rather he will improve on it.
In order to strengthen the collaboration and partnership with the private sector, the DG announced that the organization has set up a Conformity Assessment desk in his office to encourage the tourism sector and see how they can match up with their counterparts from other countries in terms of standards.
“It is believed that the services of SON are more for manufacturers, however, it is also for the service industries like tourism and hospitality,” he said.
He promised to ensure that every sector of the economy feels the impact of the organisation, adding that the proposed conference will give SON the opportunity to interface with tourism practitioners and proffer solutions to some of the challenges in the industry, especially in the area of standardisation.
He thanked the FTAN for the visit and gave the assurance that the tourism industry will begin to benefit from a lot of support from SON.
About the Author
Janefrances Ebere Chibuzor is a Tourism Writer at THEWILL
