ENHANCING AND ENFORCING A REGULATORY

FRAMEWORK FOR HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN

NIGERIA – THE CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

BY

MUNZALI DANTATA

munzalidantata@hotmail.com

dantata.munzali@yahoo.com

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 KEYWORDS

 Tourism

 Hotel

 Catering

 Hospitality

 Entertainment

 accommodation

 Operation

 Regulations

 law

 Act

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INTRODUCTION:

 Changing environment;

 1970s independent specialized reservation companies;

 1990s and payment for hotel rooms and buying airline e-tickets
online, courtesy of internet facilities;

 20th century innkeepers around the world were offering beds to

wayfarers in single location small inns;

 In today’s litigious society, a growing number of people would not just

forget about a failed airline or hotel booking or food poisoning in a
restaurant which necessitates constant review of laws.;

 Rapid developments in the hospitality and tourism industry, therefore,

have resulted overtime in the emergence of related legislation in many
countries of the world covering new trends from premises and food
liability, to franchising, employment and management contracts etc.

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2. BACKGROUND

DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA

 Colonial Period -Catering Rest Houses (1920s and 1930s)

 Post Colonial period: management of Nigeria Hotels Limited

 BPE Privatizations (2003)

 Conflicting interest between the government agencies at the Federal

 Poor legislation of the sector by the National Assembly

LAWS

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  Nigeria is a federation of thirty six states and one federal capital
territory. Since the NTDC Decree of 1992, there has not been any new
legislation from the central government. However, since the new
democratic dispensation from 1999, some of the states have enacted
laws regulating hotels, food, gaming and liquor business in their states.

 While there is only one body at the centre i.e. the NTDC that regulates
tourism and hospitality, some States have State Hotel Boards and
Liquor License Boards and other boards regulating hotel, bar, gaming
and other related businesses, which are separate from the NTDC’s role
and not under the State Tourism Boards.

4. AIM AND OBJECTIVES

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 To improve the services of the hospitality industry as a prelude to
sanitizing the tourism industry and making Nigeria the ultimate
tourism destination in Africa.

Strategies:

 review of the laws related to hotel business in Nigeria

 through the legislation

 actualization of hotel franchising laws

 Adherence business registration, operations including franchising.

 Challenges and prospects of operations in line with legal frameworks of

the laws at domestic and international standards

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3. PROBLEM

 Spread of hospitality operations;

 Lack of indigenous laws;

 Less sanctioning power;

 Poor adherence to contract management provisions;

 Use of Colonial laws:

 Conflicting interest between the government agencies and the Private

sector:

 Poor legislation of the sector by the National Assembly;

 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

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 NTA 1962

NTB Decree 54 of 1976

- Regulatory laws

NTDC Decree 81 0f 1992

- Regulatory laws on hotel registration

NOTAP Decree 70 of 1978

- Laws on hotel franchise and technology transfer

6. METHODOLOGY

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  Paper is purposive and evaluative in nature.

 Documentary facts and records contacted

 Observations

 Surveys of regulatory matters in hospitality

Operations

7. OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSIONS

Nigerians are good travelers at both in-bound and out-bound level;

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 * Better part of the travels are for the purposes of business, Visiting
Friends and Relative (VFR), religion, health and pleasure/holidays;

* That in the cause of stay at the destinations, all forms of accommodation

and catering services is sought and patronized;

* That accommodation facilities are found in whatever part of the towns with
most of them having limited or no practicing laws adhered to;

* That hotel and Restaurants businesses are the most lucrative due to non
regulation aside petroleum oil with minimal overhead cost to bear;

* Non regulation of the industry has made service quality so chequered even
among the foreign managed outfits;

* Introduction of hotel registration to the hoteliers without knowledge of the

benefits is being resisted;

* Franchised hotel management do not respect technology transfer for the

indigenes;

* Employees of the industry are poorly remunerated;

* Employers of labour shy away from employing hospitality graduates for

fear of paying higher wages and salaries;

* Investors in the industry are mostly not socially responsible;

* The hotel industry records a high level of employee turnover;

10. CONCLUSION

 Legislation is the pillar of effective tourism operation

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  The powers conferred on NTDC are not exclusive hence, cannot
exercise such fully

 Need to reviewed actualization of franchise and management contract

in multinational hotels.

 Inadequacies in regulatory laws need to be visited.

 Need to replace old laws

 Issues of antitrust matters require reforms

8. CHALLENGES OF ENHANCING AND ENFORCING REGULATORY

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 FRAMEWORK

 As seen from the above observations and discussions, the challenges

of enhancing and enforcing regulatory framework in the hospitality
industry can be summarised thus:-

 * Easy entry into the hospitality business without recourse to the

implication of the venture;

 * Ignorance of the investors to comply with operational rules in the

service industry:

 * Lack of awareness of the investors of the laws relating to

registration exercises especially by the tourism regulatory agencies;

 * Reluctance of the investors and operators to register their

businesses with the tourism regulatory agencies;

 * Non regulation of the industry through a Charter with operational

and professional ethics to be adhered to;

 * The industry is over powered by investors, operators and

employees whose professional background is not of the industry hence
exhibit lukewarm attitude to complying with laid down operational
rules;

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  9. PROSPECTS OF ENHANCING AND ENFORCING REGULATORY
FRAMEWORK

 *The prospects of enhancing and enforcing the regulatory framework

for the industry include the following:-

 * The existence of the hospitality market and high demand for the
services;

 * The wide spread of investments in the various sectors of the

hospitality industry;

 * The vested interest in the tourism industry backed by a functional

fully fledged Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation with
ten Parastatals

 * The existence of regulatory frameworks of tourism and related

agencies like NTDC, NOTAP, Health Inspectors, Nigeria Investment and
Export Promotion agencies, FEPA, UNWTO Charter on Global Ethics and
Best Practice to sanitize and standardize the industry;

 * Existence of Stakeholders’ forum to create awareness to the

investors, operators and employees to appreciate operational
regulations for optimal performance;

 * Re branding Nigeria Campaign of the Federal Ministry of Information

is readily existent to partner and create the needed awareness to
regulate the industry;

 * Existence of the provisions in hotel and restaurant chain contract

management to transfer knowledge to indigene employees for industry
capacity building;

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  11. RECOMMENDATIONS

 I. Passage of the Tourism Charter Bill

 ii. Creation of awareness on regulatory practice

 iii Intervention of stakeholders on the feud between government

regulatory agencies and the operators at public and private

 iv. Streamlining of the role and scope of NTDC

 iv. Concurrent powers of State Governments should also be taken into

account to avoid clashes between them and the regulatory agencies.

 v. Replacement of the colonial laws

 vii. Reform of the antitrust matters

 viii. A synergy of the stakeholders and the tourism officials to review

and upgrade the regulatory framework for the industry

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