# Ikechi Uko

Ikechi Uko (born 12 January 1964) is a Nigerian travel business consultant, tourism developer, entrepreneur, media consultant, journalist, and author. He is the organizer of Akwaaba African Travel Market.

## Early life

Ikechi Uko was born in Abia, Nigeria on 12 January 1964 to Samson Uko and Salome Uko, (née Azubuike). Uko attended National Secondary School Nike in Enugu. He worked as a ticketing officer with Nigeria Airways ABC in Enugu. He studied geography at the University of Ibadan and graduating in 1985, he served in the National Youth Service Corps in Bauchi. Afterwards, he moved to Kano and taught at the Gwarzo Secondary School in Gwarzo and the Rogo Secondary School in Rogo. He returned to the University of Ibadan in 1988 to obtain his Masters Degree for Science in geography with an emphasis on environmental planning and remote sensing. After graduating in 1990, Uko earned a certificate in journalism from the Times Institute of Journalism and his PRINCE2 Practitioners License. His father Samson worked with the Nigerian Railway Corporation, which influenced his passion for travel.

## Career

Uko was an editor of Tourism Fact-finders, a book on Nigeria published to mark Nigeria's hosting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in 1991. Between 1991 and 1992, he was a tourism editor of Happy Land, Happy World Tourist Guide. Happy Land, Happy World was the attempted Nigerian version of Disneyland and Disney World, a project that did not materialize when its Certificate of Occupancy was revoked by the Lagos government. Realizing the lack of literature that extensively documents the unique festive celebrations in Nigeria, he published "Festivals In Nigeria" in 1998 in collaboration with The Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC).
Inspired by his passion for traveling and adventures, he published Travelers Weekend Magazine, a weekly magazine founded in 1996, and later launched Travelers Awards. Travelers Weekend was the first regular travel magazine in West Africa. In 2004, he launched Travelers Awards and Exhibitions, the first attempt at introducing an exhibition into the travel environment. In 2005, Travelers Awards and Exhibition was rebranded as Akwaaba African Travel Market. Akwaaba African Travel Market is the only international travel fair in West Africa. With participation from international dealers in travel, tourism, aviation, and the hospitality industries, it is regarded as "Where Africa meets the world". Akwaaba African Travel Market is designated by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) as the official travel exhibition in Nigeria. It is the only international travel expo in West Africa in partnership with NTDC, listed by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), partner event with National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies (NANTA), and the only member of International Tourism Trade Fairs Association (ITTFA) in West Africa.
In 2010, with the ATQ magazine team, he set up a committee to choose the 7 wonders of Nigeria, popularly known as Naija7Wonders.
Upon realizing that most travel businesses concentrate on Lagos instead of the other northern states, incincluding the capital Nigeria, he launched Abuja Bantaba on 5 July 2011, a one-day speed dating event between investors and clients in the travel and tourism business. It also includes a workshop that keeps participants informed of the activities 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 developments in travel, transport, and tourism from a global perspective and their impact on countries' economies.
On 3 July 2015, he launched Accra Weizo, an event 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 African 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.
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 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, Uko, as a representative of Nigeria, was chosen as a namer by the government of Rwanda at the 10th anniversary of Kwita Izina, the annual gorilla naming ceremony in Rwanda. 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 10 countries from various 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's expertise in tourism was evident at the 2017 Calabar Carnival, with the Cross River State government receiving accolades for hosting the event to international standard.
In January 2016, The African Sun Times, Africa's number one and largest newspaper in America, awarded Ikechi Uko, as its Tourism Ambassador of the Year 2015. According to the organizers of the Award, the award came on the basis of Ikechi's 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 for his contributions towards developing tourism, travel, and hospitality businesses and investments in Africa.