Nasarawa State Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Message from the Hon Commissioner, Nasarawa State Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Abdullahi Makeri

Dear Visitors,

Please permit me to warmly welcome you to the Nasarawa State tourism site, the first of its type in Nigeria. We are immensely proud of the fact that we are setting the pace in tourism development in our country, thanks to the untiring efforts of our progressive governor, Alhaji (Dr.) Abdullahi Adamu, Sarkin Yakin Keffi. I have no doubt that you will be delighted with the site and what we offer to all our distinguished visitors to it.

Since the inception of his administration on May 29, 1999, the governor has remained focused on a comprehensive social and economic development of the state. In the areas of industrial and social development, he has put the state on the fast lane of modern development. His decision to fully and commercially exploit the tourism potentials in the state is in keeping with his with his determination to make Nasarawa the state of our dreams as a people. We, in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism are privileged to be the arrowhead of the state policy on cultural and tourism development.

Nasarawa is richly blessed with seven different striking tourism sites. It is therefore both the home of solid minerals and tourism treasures. Its tourism treasure range from rivers, lakes, water falls, caves, hot springs to historical sites. Each of these is a gold mine for the serious investor.

The first major development of our tourism industry is the Farin Ruwa Waterfalls Resort, located in Wamba local government area, some 120 km from the state capital, Lafia.  This is the most magnificent waterfalls in Nigeria. The water falls from a height of 150 metres. It is about 50 metres wide. This great natural beauty and blessing which had been neglected all these years, has been transformed into what we hope will be a mecca for foreign and local tourists. A golf course is nearing completion. The state government has also embarked on the construction of modern chalets. Farin Ruwa is also the site of the state hydroelectric independent power plant.

The people of Nasarawa State are hospital and creative. Major local cottage industries in the state are handcrafts, traditional cloth weaving, calabash carving and the age-old Keana salt mines.
Nasarawa has already become what one might call the star tourism state of Nigeria. Recognition has come for the state and His Excellency, the governor from African Traveller Quarterly, an authoritative magazine, which has named him the tourism governor of the year. The state gets the first prize in the ministerial category.

I invite you to Nasarawa State to see things yourselves. I look forward to the great pleasure of receiving you in Lafia and introducing you to the tourism treasures of our beloved state.

Thank you.