Lagos State Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture, has expressed its intention to explore areas of a possible partnership with the initiators of Goge Africa, award-winning pan-African tourism and cultural programme, in the area of tourism development and capacity enhancement of its staff.

The State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, who made this known during a recent visit by the Founder and Co-Founder of Goge Africa initiative, Isaac and Nneka Moses, acknowledged the impact of Goge Africa in the area of tourism development across the State and in Nigeria as a whole.

She described Goge Africa as a household name in the tourism industry, saying that the host and co-host of the popular TV documentary programme are symbols of personalities truly passionate about tourism development.

The Commissioner identified the need to expose more professionals from the Ministry to training in different aspects of Tourism as a way of enhancing their capacities to deliver the mandates of the Ministry in line with the Tourism and Entertainment pillar of the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda in Lagos State as well as in Nigeria.

She said Lagos will henceforth be benchmarked with renowned cities like Dubai, Singapore among others and not with any Nigerian States in the area of tourism activities and programmes, stressing that the Ministry remains accessible to all its stakeholders for innovations that would be beneficial.

The Co-host of Goge Africa, Nneka Moses recalled that some trainees from the organisation visited the Ministry a month ago for an experiential tour to some important places in the State, just as she appreciated the level of understanding shown during the period.

She maintained that the success story of Goge Africa, which started in Lagos, was made possible through the conducive atmosphere provided by the State Government.

Moses averred that in order to further strengthen the already existing relationship with the Ministry and Goge Africa, one of the staff of the Tourism Promotion Department in the Ministry, Mr. Aminu Omosun, was part of the trainees who just completed a course with Goge Africa free of charge.

She added that the trainee is expected to extend the experience and knowledge gained to other members of staff from the Ministry.

Certificates in three different areas were later presented to the trainee from the Ministry, Mr. Aminu Omosun by Goge Africa in the presence of the Honourable Commissioner; the Special Adviser, Mr. Solomon Bonu; the Director of Tourism Promotion, Mrs. Ada Oni and some other top officials of the Ministry.