A new partnership puts Nigeria’s destinations a click away, opens a virtual platform for students and the public, and signals a wider plan to bring tourism into the country’s universities.
The Nigeria Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) and Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) have agreed to establish a Smart Tourism Hub on the university’s Ago-Iwoye campus in Ogun State.
The plan was unveiled by NTDA Director-General Dr Ola Awakan during a return visit to the institution where he was once an undergraduate.
Awakan was received by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, and members of the university’s management team. He was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Omolola Ola Awakan, also an alumna of OOU.
According to the NTDA, the proposed hub will allow students and members of the public to virtually explore tourism destinations across Nigeria.
The agency intends for it to function on three levels at once: as a learning platform for students of tourism, hospitality and the creative industries; as an innovation space for projects that can be commercialised; and as a revenue stream for the university itself. Awakan also told university officials that the NTDA is developing a national streaming platform to showcase Nigerian destinations, described by the agency as a first of its kind on the African continent, which the campus hub would connect into.
During the visit, the Director-General toured the university’s upgraded ICT Centre, which OOU describes as one of the largest in the country, and the Department of Performing Arts, where students staged an excerpt from his play Echoes of the Drums in his honour. The Department of Mass Communication, where Awakan completed his first degree, also conferred its Great Ambassador Award on him.
See our editorial on this: Nigeria Tourism Infrastructure: Why the Smart Hub Is Just the Start
Beyond the hub itself, Awakan signalled a broader intention by NTDA to work with Nigerian universities on dedicated tourism-focused curricula, designed alongside relevant agencies and industry stakeholders. He framed the partnership at OOU as a template that could be replicated, and positioned tourism as a serious lever for job creation and foreign exchange as Nigeria looks to reduce its dependence on oil revenues.
In response, Prof. Agboola welcomed the project as a timely investment in the institution and in the country’s young population, and described his alumnus’ return as a homecoming. He noted that the partnership extends beyond a single facility, with both sides indicating that further joint initiatives between NTDA and OOU are on the table.
No timeline for the hub’s commissioning has been publicly confirmed. NTDA has said further details on the streaming platform, the curriculum partnership, and the rollout to other universities will follow.
