There is something deeply troubling about the current state of tourism governance in Lagos State.
Seven years after the Lagos State Tourism Promotion Agency Law was enacted, the institution envisioned by that legislation still appears unable to fully stand on its own. What should have become the central institutional driver of tourism policy, destination management, investment coordination, and tourism regulation in Nigeria’s commercial capital remains largely invisible in practical governance.
That reality should worry everyone connected to the tourism, hospitality, entertainment, and creative economy sectors.
The Lagos State Tourism Promotion Agency Law was passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law during the administration of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in 2019.
The law was not designed as another ceremonial government announcement. It was intended to establish a professional tourism institution capable of giving Lagos a long-term strategic direction in one of the world’s fastest-growing economic sectors.
Yet years later, the Agency still struggles to emerge as a fully operational and independent institution.
This raises serious questions, why pass a law if there is no political will to fully implement it?
Again, why spend public funds on tourism planning if institutional execution is never allowed to mature?
And why does Lagos State, despite all its enormous tourism and entertainment potential still appear trapped in repetitive annual tourism programming without lasting institutional structure?
The concerns become even more significant when viewed against the background of the Lagos Tourism Master Plan reportedly developed by Ernst & Young for the Lagos State Government at considerable public expense.
That process involved contributions and stakeholder engagements across the tourism industry. It was designed to reposition Lagos as a continental, if not globally competitive tourism destination with strong institutional foundations capable of surviving beyond political administrations.
The recommendations from that framework aligned closely with the eventual establishment of the Lagos State Tourism Promotion Agency under the 2019 law.
The vision was clear: create an institution capable of coordinating tourism development professionally, independently, and strategically.
Unfortunately, implementation appears to have slowed significantly under the current administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
To be fair, the Sanwo-Olu administration has supported entertainment, infrastructure, transportation, and cultural activities across Lagos. Nobody can deny the visibility of concerts, festivals, road projects, nightlife expansion, and event-driven economic activity within the state.
But tourism development is not only about events, requires institutions.
It requires policy continuity, reliable data systems, destination management structures, regulatory coordination, investment planning, environmental protection, tourism statistics, and long-term strategic execution.
Without institutions, tourism becomes seasonal publicity rather than sustainable economic planning.
This is where the Lagos State Tourism Promotion Agency should have become critically important.
The law establishing the Agency already provides for a governing board comprising government officials, tourism stakeholders, and representatives from the five traditional divisions of Lagos State. The structure was clearly intended to broaden participation and reduce excessive concentration of tourism administration within a single ministry structure.
Yet many industry stakeholders privately believe institutional resistance within the ministry may have slowed the Agency’s full emergence.
There is a growing perception within the industry that previous and current commissioners associated with the tourism ministry have been reluctant to fully release operational influence to an independent agency backed by law.
If true, that would be unfortunate.
Because no serious continental or global tourism destination succeeds by personalising tourism governance around ministries or political offices alone. Strong tourism economies are built through strong institutions.
Sadly, what Lagos continues to experience is a recurring cycle of tourism activities without deep institutional continuity. Every administration announces programmes, festivals, campaigns, and events.
Yet the structural problems remain largely unchanged: weak tourism statistics, fragmented attraction management, poor coordination, inconsistent implementation, and limited long-term planning.
One industry stakeholder recently summarised the frustration bluntly: “Garbage in, garbage out year after year.”
Harsh as that statement may sound, it reflects a growing level of frustration within the tourism and hospitality sector.
The bigger concern now is not whether Lagos has tourism potential. It certainly does.
Lagos possesses one of Africa’s strongest combinations of entertainment, culture, fashion, nightlife, conferences, creative industries, waterfront assets, food culture, and commercial energy.
The real issue is whether the political leadership is prepared to allow the institutional framework already established by law to genuinely function independently.
The Lagos State House of Assembly must also not escape scrutiny.
Lawmakers who passed the legislation in 2019 have a constitutional oversight duty to ensure that institutions created by law are not quietly reduced to symbolic structures after passage because oversight does not end once a bill is signed into law.
If the Agency was important enough to established, its implementation should also be important enough to monitor aggressively.
At this point, Lagos tourism stakeholders deserve clarity.
Will the Lagos State Tourism Promotion Agency become the professional institution originally envisioned under the law?
Or will it remain another well-written law trapped inside government files while the tourism sector remains without strong institutional coordination?
The answer to that question may determine whether Lagos truly becomes a world-class tourism destination, or merely continues staging world-class events without building world necessary tourism institutions.
By Dr. Lucky Onoriode George, Executive Director, African Travel Commission [ATC], writes from Accra, Ghana.