Ikechi Uko (born 12 January 1964) is a Nigerian travel business consultant, travel promoter, tourism development expert, media consultant, journalist and author. He is the organizer of Akwaaba African Travel Market, the first international travel fair in West Africa; Abuja Bantaba; and organizer, Accra Weizo and Port Harcourt Bantaba. He is the CEO of Jedidah Promotions (an international media and tourism marketing firm for airlines, hotels and destinations across Africa);project director of Seven Wonders of Nigeria (Naija7Wonders), and publisher of Africa Travel Quarterly Magazine and atqnews.com.
Early life
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 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 travelling to new places in the course of his father’s job. His late mother, Mrs Salome Uko, a teacher, steered his early life towards Geography and taught him lessons in enterprise.
The Abia State born travel enthusiast, whose dressing is incomplete without a hat or a neck scarf, is a very well traveled person, traveling close to 200 days in a year.[5] He was editor of Tourism Factfinders, a book on Nigeria published to mark Nigeria’s hosting of The Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in 1991[citation needed]. In 1991 to 1992 he was tourism editor of Happy Land, Happy World tourist Guide. Happy Land, Happy World was the Nigerian version of Disneyland, Disney World, a project that did not materialize when its Certificate of Occupancy was revoked by the Lagos State Government. Realizing the lack of literature that deeply documents the unique festive celebrations in Nigeria, in 1998 he published Festivals In Nigeria in collaboration with The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).
Having noticed that in Nigeria most travel businesses concentrate on Lagos without taking cognizance of the huge travel potentials in other northern states, especially Abuja, being the capital of Nigeria, on 5 July 2011, he launched Abuja Bantaba, a one-day speed dating event between investors and clients in the travel and tourism business., It also includes workshop that keep participants informed of what are going on in those industries to keep with pace with the rest of the world. In celebration of the centenary of Nigeria, on 25 April 2014, the 4th edition of Abuja Bantaba honored 100 personalities who are key players to tourism development in Nigeria.
In 2013, he launched atqnews.com, the online version of African Travel Quarterly Magazine. According to Uko, it focuses on forecast, market and political analyses, which observe development in the areas of travel, transport and tourism from a global perspective and the impact of these on the economies of countries.
On 3 July 2015, he launched Accra Weizo, an event which is targeted at the founding vision of ECOWAS: to create a region of one people integrating and growing together. Accra Weizo rallies travel professionals together to meet minds and work out a pathway for the future of the Africa region, hosting tourism, aviation and immigration key players and decision makers.
In August 2015, he was appointed as the international tourism consultant to the Calabar Carnival
Ikechi Uko is presently pushing his proposal to build an aviation museum for Nigeria using abandoned aircraft as exhibits. He said that the project would promote Nigeria’s tourism; empower and educate a new generation of aviators; draw international investors in the aviation industry to Nigeria and would serve as an ‘’ eye- opener’’ to look and work for a brighter future in the aviation industry.
Awards and appointments
In 2008, he was appointed a member of the tourism committee Nigeria Vision 2020 in the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
In July 2014, at the 10th anniversary of Kwita Izina, the annual gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda, one of the most prestigious festivals in Rwanda, Uko was chosen by the government of Rwanda as a representative of Nigeria to be a namer. In 2015, he was appointed consultant to the Calabar Carnival 2016 by the Cross River State governor, Prof. Ben Ayade, with the vision to reposition Calabar Carnival as the number one carnival event in Africa. As the international tourism consultant for the 2016 Calabar International Festival, Ikechi Uko brought in over ten countries across the continents of the world to participate in the Calabar International Festival. With the success of 2016 Calabar Carnival, he was reappointed in 2016 for the 2017 edition. Ikechi Uko vast expertise in tourism was in sheer display at the Calabar Carnival 2017, with accolades on the Cross River State government in hosting the event to international standard to the delight of tourists, international investors and Nigerians.
In January 2016, The African Sun Times, Africa’s number one and largest newspaper in America, awarded Mr. Ikechi Uko, as its Tourism Ambassador of the Year 2015. According to the organizers of the Award, The award came on the heels of Ikechi’s ardent practical tourism promotion and development campaign in Nigeria and Africa through different pet projects showcasing the beauty and richness of Africa to the world.
At the 2017 MICE East Africa Forum and Expo held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ikechi Uko was presented with the 2016 MICE East Africa’s Tourism and Hospitality Personality Award. The Award was presented to him on his contributions towards the developments of tourism, travel and hospitality businesses and investments in Africa.
