REMARKS BY THE HON MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND CULTURE, ALHAJI LAI MOHAMMED, WHILE BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE FOREIGN BIKERS FOLLOWING THEIR TOUR OF NIGERIA…IN ABUJA ON MONDAY, 5 NOV. 2018
PROTOCOL
I welcome you all to this short ceremony to bid farewell to our friends, the foreign bikers, who have been in our country for about two weeks to undertake – with their Nigerian counterparts – a tour of the nation’s monuments, museums and other cultural heritage and tourist sites under the ”REDISCOVER HERITAGE BIKERS TOUR PROJECT” .
2. The tour, which I flagged off here in Abuja on 23rd of October 2018, took them to 8 states (Niger, Kogi, Enugu, Cross River, Rivers, Edo, Oyo and Lagos) and the Federal capital territory, during which they visited many sites.
3. The bikers travelled to Gurara Falls in Niger; The coal city of Enugu, the Millennium Park, Slave History Museum, Tinapa Lake Resort all in Cross River; the national museum in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; the ancient city of Benin in Edo State where they visited the National Museum, among others; the ancient city of Ibadan in Oyo State; Lagos Mega City and of course many sites here in the FCT.
4. From the report that I have received, this tour is a great success. It is also an attestation to the fact that Nigeria is indeed a safe destination for tourists and business people alike. Yes, there are security challenges here and there – and this is not peculiar to Nigeria. But our country is safer today than it was before the advent of this Administration in 2015, thanks to the political will shown by the Administration and the commitment of our security agencies.
5. The great bikers who crisscrossed our country by road are all here, safe and sound! They are not armchair analysts. They are practical men and women who zoomed across the country on their power bikes. No one can tell the story better than them. And the feedback we have received is overwhelmingly positive.
6. I congratulate you all for this great adventure. I thank you for ignoring the naysayers and for having the courage and the confidence and the open mind to see things for yourselves. As you go, I urge you all to become great ambassadors of our great country, Nigeria. And I hope you will come back here in the not-too-distant future.
7. Before I close, please permit me to most sincerely thank all those who contributed to the success of this tour: The President of the Latin America Motorcycle Association, LAMA, Mr. Marip Nieves; the President of LAMA Nigeria, Mr Ernest Akhikpemelo; the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, NCMM, the NTA as well as the sponsors. Thank You All.
8. I wish all our foreign friends a safe journey back to their various countries.
9. And I thank you all for your time.
