HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM MANPOWER TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Ofobruku Sylvester Abomeh and Amagbakhen O. Roland

Tourism and Hospitality Services, Keffi, Nasarawa State Nigeria

Bureau of Public Procurement, State House Abuja

Email: ufomaeliz@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The Hospitality and Tourism industry is a large and complex industry and one that is of significant economic importance to Nigeria. Manpower Training and Education, enabled the hospitality and tourism industry to have the right sets of workers with the required skills, knowledge and attitude to manage the industry in the present while plan adequately and wisely to meet the challenges of manpower needs the industry might face in the future. This paper reviews manpower training and education in the hospitality and tourism sector; identify the challenges militating against manpower training in the hospitality industry in Nigeria. It evaluates the key government policy on tourism manpower training and development, how it can enhance the process of improving the standard of Nigeria hospitality and tourism sector. The Focus Group Discussion methodology was employed in this study, this enable the researcher to successfully gain greater insight on the subject and resolved unexpected issues encountered during the interview. Six parallel Focus Group Discussion sessions were held in the six geo-political region of Nigeria with the author acting as the facilitator. The study concludes that the Government of Nigeria as a matter of urgency should formulate policies that will enshrine the training of manpower in the tourism and hospitality industry, in order to check the present ugly situation.