Oyo State government has expressed its readiness to partner with the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Western Zone, to flush out quacks in travel business in the state.
The state Commissioner for Tourism and Culture, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, stated this when the zonal executive council of NANTA paid him a visit in his office.
The zonal vice president of NANTA, Otunba Babatunde Adesokan, led his team, including the second National Deputy President of the association, Dr Tokunbo Dagunduro, on the visit.
The NANTA zonal vice president lamented the plight of his association in curbing the menace of quackery in the state without the backing and support of government of the state.
Adesokan said members of the public in state have suffered enough from the hand of the quacks parading themselves as travel agents.
He added that they swindling the public of their hard-earned money in the name of assisting them to secure travel arrangements.
The NANTA zonal vice president stayed that the association has the backing of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), a federal agency regulating the association.
He said the backing by NCAA explained why NANTA has the power to seal any agency that failed to register under the association to operate.
“With this act, we can operate and seal off offices. But we still need the backing of the state government in carrying out this task as a responsible body,” he added.
Adesokan therefore sought the support of the state government for NANTA, through the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, to raise a task force towards achieving its aim.
He also assured the state government that dong this will give the state the needed data of operators in state.
He added that it will also curb the incessant cases of fraud in the sector and also serve as a revenue generation for the state government through the issuance of tourism operation certificate to NANTA members.
Also speaking, NANTA second National Deputy President of the association, Dr Dagunduro, supported the call by the zonal vice president.
He also said there was a need to act fast on the identified areas in order to prevent loss of revenues by the government in that direction.
Responding to the requests by the NANTA team, the state Commissioner for Tourism and Culture, Dr Olatunbosun, assured the readiness of the state to support the association in carrying out the task.
He called for the creation of a task force to that effect and request that NANTA should provide the modalities to work with, while his ministry will look into it and work along with the association.
The commissioner re-affirmed that Oyo State cannot be a ground for fraudsters in the name of travel agents.
Other zonal council present included Mr Temitope Ogunosebikan (zonal secretary); Mr Oye Obasa (zonal PRO); Mr Olumide Olatundun (zonal welfare officer); Dr Olufemi Adegbola and the zonal ex-officio, Comrade Afolabi Hezekiah.
