Lai Mohammed, Minister for Information and Culture, on Friday disclosed plans by the federal government to establish a tourism academy in Nigeria.

Mr Mohammed, who made this known at the maiden graduation ceremony of Terra Academy For The Arts (TAFTA) in Lagos, said the academy would provide viable platform to upscale the creative industry.

He said that Nigeria was choosen as one of the two countries in Africa to host the academy in recognition of the country’s giant strides in the creative industry,

He noted that the federal government had always been keen on expanding the opportunities available to the Nigerian youths through training.

“I am, therefore, happy to announce that we are currently working with the UNWTO and some other private sector players to establish a tourism academy in Nigeria.

“This initiative was initiated and launched during the global conference on tourism, culture and the creative industry held in Lagos, last November.

“This academy will be located in Lagos and would provide accessible vocational and managerial transformative training for the tourism and hospitality sector.

“The UNWTO has also announced plans to work with Nollywood to positively project the image of Africa,” the minister said.

Mr Mohammed also disclosed that the federal government’s N-Power initiative, a job creation programme with graduates and non-graduates components, had enrolled 1.5 million youths so far.

He said the individuals were not only being trained but were also provided with a monthly stipend of N30,000 naira each.

“The Federal Government will continue to expand opportunities for our youths,” he said.

He commended Bolanle Austen-Peters, Founder of TAFTA and Terra Kulture, who had trained no fewer than 2,000 Nigerian youths in animation, sound design, light design, script writing and more.

He said with TAFTA targeting 65,000 youths between age 16 to 35 for training in the creative space in the next 5 years, it would be contributing its quota in ensuring the growth of the creative industry.

He noted that TAFTA could not have come at a more auspicious time.

(NAN)