Tourism guru Sunnie Chukumele pulled no punches at Abuja’s African Descent Creative Industry Summit, slamming insecurity especially Nigeria’s chaos, as the biggest roadblock choking tourism, hospitality, and creative sector growth across the continent.
Delivering his paper “Africa, Insecurity, and the Future of Tourism and Hospitality,” Chukumele celebrated Africa’s post-COVID rebound with 74 million international arrivals in 2024 and steady 2025 gains, but warned that threats like banditry funnel visitors to safe havens, scare off investors in risky zones, and pile endless costs on operators and communities.
He pushed for smart fixes: community-driven development, on-the-ground safety protocols, targeted infrastructure cash, and tighter regional teamwork to flip tourism into a peace-builder. Dr Raphael Obi, standing in for Culture Minister Hannatu Musawa, hyped Nigeria’s creative firepower in music, arts, food and visuals as a global economic rocket, vowing full ministry muscle to unleash it despite the dangers.
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