By Our Correspondent
The Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, will lead agencies under the Ministry at a plenary session of the National Sports Tourism Conference and Exhibition (NASTOCE 2026) in Abuja.
The plenary session, scheduled for Monday, 30 March 2026, at the prestigious Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, will focus on the theme:
“General Air Transport Services and Aerospace Management: A Vital Component in Sports Tourism Development in Nigeria.”
In alignment with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, the conference aims to harness Nigeria’s tourism potential to stimulate national economic growth through strategic collaboration with the aviation industry.
The two-day National Sports Tourism Conference and Exhibition (NASTOCE 2026) is leveraging the strong interconnectivity between sports,tourism, and aviation to create awareness and promote multi-sectoral collaboration.
During the aviation plenary session, the Honourable Minister will deliver the Keynote Address, while heads of agencies under the Ministry will present position papers aligned with their respective institutional mandates.
The Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), as a Special Guest Panelist, will present a paper titled:
“The Policy Thrust Mechanisms of FAAN in Ensuring Seamless and Safer Air Transportation Management for Sports Tourism Development in Nigeria.”
The National Sports Tourism Conference and Exhibition (NASTOCE 2026) will hold from Monday, 30 March to Tuesday, 31 March 2026 at the Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
The conference will examine the strategic connectivity between sports, tourism, and other government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in order to unlock the significant socio-economic opportunities within the sports tourism ecosystem for national economic development.
According to Malam Ahmed Mohammed Sule, Convener and Chairman of the National Organising Committee of NASTOCE 2026, the conference aims to provide an annual dialogue platform for stakeholders to critically examine the intersections and socio-economic benefits inherent in collaboration between Nigeria’s sports and tourism industries.
He explained that the conference is structured to enable participating Ministries and their agencies to identify areas of collaboration with the sports and tourism sectors. Each participating institution will present a position paper outlining strategies for promoting sports tourism development in Nigeria within the framework of its statutory mandate.
Other Ministries and agencies expected at the conference include the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy and the National Sports Commission, alongside the Ministry of Interior, Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Federal Ministry of Defence, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, and the Federal Ministry of Transportation, among others.
