Two years ago, Susan Akporiaye showed up on the leadership platform of Nigeria’s biggest private sector travel and tourism body, the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA).
It was a special and very significant moment to steer the ship of an avant garde travel trade body begging for reinvention and a new direction.
At 44 years then, NANTA’s founding members were ageing and new ‘prelates’ were beginning to fret away from the old ways of trade culture, with the mixed multitude bracing to soil the larger-than-life image of the association.
Another template of challenge to the future and relevance of the association came in a most trending sandstorm, a global pandemic named COVID 19, which grounded not only the travel and tourism business world, but the entire humanity.
This was a Susan Akporiaye challenge, the nightmare, the headache and testing ground.
“I was afraid but not discouraged. No one gave me a chance. The pandemic response was like a premature baby, soaked in blood and medically uncertain. I was lost in the this wilderness but, guess what, I was not ready to give up on NANTA and our very fragile industry, dead on my arrival,” she recalled with a certain unbelievable nostalgia.
No doubt, pessimism and pessimists ran riot and she was determined to fight. She was Ekamma (meaning mother of mothers, grandmother), a name her parents gave her at birth, a peep into her destiny walk as a protective Amazon and heroin of sorts, who would rather fight to save her children than give up. COVID-19 was the silent ravager, unmerciful, and NANTA quaked, but Susan was ready to nurse NANTA back to life.
“Getting around the pandemic for our members was like a battle of my life. I sought help from God and people of goodwill. I knew, with good leadership, providing shoulders for a new direction, mentoring and guidance, we could overcome the challenges and impact of COVID-19 on our businesses, which depended solely on human movement and travel,” Mrs. Akporiaye explained, and the NANTA training initiative gained ground.
“I will not possibly forget our egg on vision encapsulated under my election campaign slogan, ‘Together, we move.’ My training team, led by the very enterprising and self-movitiated Ibiwari Uloma Kemabonta, plugged us into a new thinking process, new streams of income and even our trade partners, the foreign and local airlines, joined in finding solutions to our survival beyond the boundaries of COVID-19 limitations.”
Again, Susan took a deep breath, before giving more insight on how NANTA survived the pandemic’s worst phase, which left many global holiday and travel brands in the cemetery: “Many people said I was just lucky to have gotten NANTA out of a ravaging pandemic but I disagree. There was no luck anywhere; the pandemic was a hurricane with no lucky threshold. It was just the support from our members, the board of trustees and from the executives. It was a day-at-a-time strategy and we worked together to restore hope to most members who were at the mercy of the pandemic. We feared and at the same time prayed for our principals, the airlines facing the most bleak future ever.”
Ekamma sounds culturally good to the ear and the biblical Ruth of our time continued, “Our webinar training was second to none. No pranting but focal attention to restore hope and navigate a most hope-shattering moment. Our middle-level and down-the-line members were about to close shop and we intervened, got many back to their feet through the exposure on what COVID-19 had made available out there. We got everyone to jump-start and grab any particular process that could get us a lifeline and the streamed opportunities became a piller of encouragement and support.”
Looking back at yesterday’s pandemic, many bruises on her business and family, Ekamma Akporiaye, who has become the toast of the industry and government industry policy drivers and implementors, shared with me her lonely moments in the dark night of the leadership incubator.
“My business and family suffered. My health situation went to the roof but I cared more for NANTA and our place in the history of national development. We are yet not out of it all, but the future is looking good and great. Leadership is not for the weak, it takes your all and you must be willing to sacrifice all. It is not everyone that will understand your vision and intent; indeed, some pessimists will run you out of the system, if you can’t stand the storm.”
And on government’s COVID-19 bailout fund, which became her most enterprising gift from the heavens to a bewildered trade group, hardly appreciated for its contribution to national socioeconomic development, NANTA second female president in its 46 years history told me that what God cannot do has never been seen.
“The bai lout fund to NANTA came from God through the caring office of Captain Hadi Sirika, our minister of aviation. That singular support is indicative of how much government appreciates our job-creating potential. We also looked forward to support from the Culture and Tourism Ministry and we are still waiting, praying. Indeed, the bailout process, even though broken down, could only offset little overhead costs for our teeming members but, in truth, it gave us light and encouraged us to work harder. It had very positive psychological impact and we remain grateful.”
Were there other lessons, we probed further: “It was a telling moment of how to manage man and money. Many accused us of being slow in decision-making over the issue while some thought we wanted to defraud them when we requested for their account details to enable us pay directly, because we needed to provide government evidence of what we did. Honestly, there were lots of lessons and I believe, once a leader is credible, it’s easy for followers to tag along.”
She added that the biggest statement of her first tenure in office was the gathering of government and custodians of tradition around one table during the second national outing of the NANTA Eminent Persons Award in Abuja, December, last year.
“As an advocacy and welfare group, we needed to champion a new engagement with government institutions within our catchment environment. We need to deepen collaboration and engagement. Government agencies need to understand our areas of operation and, with our members launching out in other areas of economic opportunities, we need to reach out to policymakers and the drivers of such intents and, in so doing, it makes things easier for our members to trade. It was an agenda, most our members did not understand initially but as I am wont to share with people, NANTA Eminent Persons Award did not start with me. It was an amazing effort by my predecessor and I improved on it, and to God be the glory.”
Today, Nanta has the backing of the revered Emir of Kano, to help turn around the promotion of Kano Durbar, ditto the governor of Kano who was one of our Eminent awardees, also want us to be at the forefront of driving International visitors and passengers traffic to the famous Kano Airport. These and many more, were fallouts of these public engagements, not forgetting that National Council for Arts and culture ( NCAC) has an ongoing project in the cultural branding of our national headquarters in Lagos which we shall unveil soon if things being equal.
And to posers if a re- election scheme is on her card at the march Annual General meeting slated for the ancient city of Kano, the delectable, beauty and brain Amazon, threw her hands up in supplications and prayers “ I will leave it to my members, many who has called for my re- election. Our elective AGM in Kano will throw up lots of Surprises and I want to believe nanta will be greater if am given the opportunity to serve again for another tenure. Certainly, two years is not enough, particularly with the pandemic throwing pebbles at our first call but we thank God for his abundant blessings and mercies. To all our members, we can together do more and I can see our women folks coming out at the zonal level to serve. It’s very an impressive turn around and we thank our male community for the opportunity and as our slogan says, together, we shall move nanta to new significant and enduring path if we are given another time out to fully finish well. We have sowed the seeds during the most difficult moment in our history and another outing, will witness, growth and reaping process across board. Our membership profile, keep increasing by day, our one zone, one project agenda is a hit,our Housing scheme, training and retraining, partnerships and collaborations on Africa to Africa Tourism Initiative and the advocacy muscling out of fly bye night Operators, certainly will be areas of clearer perspectives if we are given opportunity to come back”.