Munzali Dantata
Munzali Dantata, a Nigerian lawyer by training with a Ph.D. (Law) degree, is an acknowledged tourism enthusiast and activist in both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian tourism industry.
He was Director-General for the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism of Nigeria from 2006 to 2014, a government-run tourism training institute. Before his stint in the public sector, he was visible in the private sector as President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (1991-1993), and President of Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (2003-2006).[1]
Personal life[edit]
Munzali Dantata is a father of 6. He is a grandson of the late Alhassan Dantata who was at the time of his death, the richest man in West Africa. He is from Kano state northern Nigeria, born in the ancient city of Kano, Nigeria, on 24 June 1957. He attended Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria from 1977 and graduated in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in law (L.L.B.).
Career[edit]
He began his career in law practice in 1981 as a counsel at the Ministry of Justice of Kano State. In 1987, he made a strategic move to the tourism industry with the incorporation of a travel agency. Soon after he began business as a travel agent and tour operator, Dantata was appointed a Board Member of the governing board of Nigeria's premier tourism regulator, the Nigeria Tourist Board (NTB) in 1991, as a representative of the private sector of the Nigerian tourism industry. It was during his tenure sitting on the governing board of Nigeria's apex tourism body that the Board was transformed from the regulator to a more visible role as the marketer of Nigerian tourism, and renamed Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC). In the same year, he was appointed to the Board, Dantata was elected president of the National Association of the Nigerian Travel Agencies; a position he held from 1991 to 1993.
He caught the attention of the federal government for the second time, in the year 2000, with an appointment to two committees of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), the BPE Committee on Tourism, and the BPE Committee on Aviation. The BPE is an interventionist body created by the federal government of Nigeria in 1999 to commercialize or privatize ailing public corporations. Dantata reached the peak of his public sector appointments in the Nigerian tourism industry in 2003 with as appointment as Counsel Member of the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT), representing the Nigerian tourism organized private sector. The Counsel was created and headed by the President of Nigeria to revitalize the Nigerian tourism industry and place Nigeria on the map of international tourism as a favorite African destination.
Before his appointments in Nigerian tourism public sector bodies, Dantata had been very active in the Nigerian tourism private sector, as a travel agent representing international airlines and promoting international destinations, and as a tour operator promoting Nigerian destinations. He established a cultural-cum-tourism village in 1999 at the foot of the famous Zuma Rock showcasing the cultures of Nigerian ethnic groups which made him visible in the tourism and cultural sectors. He was elected vice president of the Federation of West and Central African Travel and Tourism Associations (FISAVET) in which he promoted regional travel and cooperation between organized private sector organizations of the West African region.
In 2006, Dantata was appointed the Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), the apex government tourism training institute in Nigeria. He left the National Institute in 2014 after two terms of four years each and founded Zuma Institute for Globalization and entrepreneurship. Dantata has authored several books including Abuja: A Business Travel Guide (1993), and Tammunnde: Hope on the Horizon (2017). He has also delivered many papers while serving with public and private sector organizations with a passion for promoting tourism in Nigeria and Africa at large.
References[edit]
- ↑ Nigeria: NIHOTOUR Chief Calls for Implementation of Tourism Master Plan
Nigeria: DG Wants Stakeholders to Develop Domestic Tourism
Nigeria: What Tourists Want to See in Nigeria - Munzalli
Nigeria: Exporting Local Foods Will Promote Our Culture - Dantata
Nigeria: Dantata Urges Implementation of Tourism Master Plan
Nigeria: Tourism: Dantata Unveils Pilgrims Route Project
Nigeria: Tourism Had Always Been Seen as an Economic Power - Munzali Dantata
Nigeria: Munzali Dantata - a Man of Dreams and Realities
Nigeria: How to Create Wealth - Dantata
Nigeria: Jigawa Committed to Tourism Development - Lamido
Nigeria: Tourism: Zuma Village Hosts Centennial Celebration
- A Year of Golden Hopes, ThisDay Newspaper, 18 Dec. 2010
This article "Munzali Dantata" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Munzali Dantata. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
