17th April, 2021
By Priscilla Osaje
Alhaji Saleh Kareem Rabo, President of Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria(FTAN) is dead.
FTAN Public Relations Officer (North), Mr Joseph Karim, in a statement in Abuja, said that Rabo’s immediate family confirmed his passing on Friday.
He said that Rabo died on Friday at his residence at Abuja, after a protracted illness and had been buried according to Islamic rites.
According to him, FTAN condoled with the family of the late President and the entire tourism trade community in Nigeria.
“Rabo will be remembered for his loving personality, tolerance of detractors, genteelness in leadership, camaraderie and go-getting spirit”.
“He was a consummate travel and tourism professional and investor.
“Rabo died being the Managing-Director of All States Travels with office in Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
“He first became the President of FTAN in June 2017, after winning a landslide victory at the general elections of the federation, and was subsequently re-elected in 2019 for his second and final term.
“His tenure was due to elapse in July 2021 before his death,” he said
Karim added that the late FTAN president was previously the Vice-President of the National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA) Abuja zone.
He said that during his time as FTAN President, Saleh accomplished a number of tourism industry developmental milestones.
Karim gave some of them as a befitting secretariat for FTAN in Abuja within weeks of his election, entrenchment of professional development programmes for practitioners in the tourism and hospitality sector and advocacy for Nigerian government prioritisation of tourism industry’s development.
He said the late Tabo also re-established FTAN operational presence in each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria