The African Sun Times, Africa's number one and largest newspaper in America, has announced Mr. Ikechi Uko, founder of the world famous Akwaaba Expo held every year in Nigeria, as its Tourism Ambassador of the Year 2015.
The America-based newspaper noted that Akwaaba Expo "has increasingly attracted international recognition. Go to any country in Africa and mention the name, Ikechi, people would immediately recognise the name and applaud the work he is doing to increase tourism in Africa. "Unfortunately, a lot of countries don't recognise or realise the great foreign exchange earnings of tourism and its effect on economic growth in countries, which is what Ikechi Uko is doing his utmost best to correct."
Reacting to international award bestowed on him by The African Sun Times, Mr. Uko told THISDAY that he was humbled by the award, adding the recognition has spurred him to do more for the tourism sector in Africa in particular and the world in general.
"I am honoured to receive this award. It supports the vision that I am pursuing to get Africans to travel more within Africa. Our new project Africans for Africa is geared towards getting at least 10 million Africans to travel within African. My group TeamAfrica is setting out to discover the 21 wonders of Africa between now and September 2018. Though the award is in recognition of the work I have done so far I see it as an impetus to do more."
According to Wikipedia, Mr. Ikechi Uko "is a Nigerian travel business consultant, travel promoter, tourism development expert, media consultant, journalist and author. He is the Organiser of Abuja Bantaba and Akwaaba African Travel Market, the only international travel fair in West Africa. He is the project director of seven wonders of Nigeria (Naija7Wonders), CEO of Jedidah Promotions (an international media and tourism marketing firm for airlines, hotels and destinations across Africa)[3] and publisher of Africa Travel Quarterly Magazine and atqnews.com.
"Ikechi Uko is from Abia State, Nigeria. He was born on 12 January 1964 into the family of Mr. samson Uko and Mrs. Salome Uko, Née Azubuike. At a young age, Uko had an eye on travel. He could give up anything to discover new places. He attended National Secondary School Nike, Enugu. He worked as ticketing officer with Nigeria Airways ABC in Enugu. He studied Geography at the University of Ibadan and graduated in 1985.
He did his National Youth Service Corps in Bauchi State from where he moved to Kano State and taught in Gwarzo secondary school, Gwarzo and Rogo secondary school, Rogo. In 1988, he returned to the University of Ibadan to obtain his Msc in Geography with emphasis on environmental planning and remote sensing.
He graduated in 1990 and went ahead to obtain certificate in Journalism from Times Institute of Journalism and Prince2 Practitioners Licence. His father, Mr. Samson Uko, played a huge role in cementing his passion, travel. Mr. Samson Uko worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation and kept books. As a child, Ikechi spent his holidays reading those books and traveling to new places in the course of his father's job. His late Mother, Mrs. Salome Uko Née Azubuike, a teacher, steered his early life towards Geography and taught him lessons in enterprise."
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