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By Magnus Emuji

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Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has underscored the importance of tourism development towards reducing unemployment in any society.

Okowa stated this in Asaba in a keynote address during the launching of Senior Secondary Tourism Books for written by the Chairman of the Board of Directors in the State Tourism Board, Fidelia Salami.

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The governor, who was represented on the occasion by the State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs Rose Ezewu, said that it was important for the younger ones to know more about tourism policies and business strategies in order to create market opportunities.

He stated that as a people, there was need to possess requisite cultural repackaging and resources necessary for the development of efficient and sustainable tourism sector.

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The governor said that his administration was irrevocably committed to diversifying the state’s economy, adding that a properly developed tourism with service-oriented industries would help to redirect the energies of youths of nowadays.

He decried the over dependence on oil sector, and pledged to ensure that the books would be recommended for use in schools in the state.

Also speaking, former governor of the state, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, recalled that the Delta Beyond Oil initiative of his then administration was aimed at diversifying the state’s economy.

Uduaghan, who underscored the importance of tourism development to the economic growth of any nation, called on well-meaning individuals to invest in the tourism industry.

He commended the efforts of the author of the books, describing it as an ‘uncommon initiative’ to contribute her quota to the development of the sector.

The former governor, who was the chairman of the occasion and chief launcher reasoned that for tourism to be pillar of economic sustenance, it should be included in the schools’ curriculum.

Source: www.information.deltastate.gov.ng (delmininfo)