Abdulwahab Isa
Total number of persons employed in accommodation and food services sector have been on a steady rise, a new data released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has stated. In 2010, the number of persons employed by the sector was 342,794 but the figure increased by 44,804 or 13.07 per cent to 387,598 in 2011 but reduced by 13,090 or 3.38 per cent to 374,508 in 2012.
A further breakdown based on sex category revealed that in the three years span, Nigerian male dominated with 200,061 employed in 2010, which increased by 33,693 or 16.84 per cent to 233,754 males employed in 2011.
However, it declined by 26,482 or 11.33 per cent to 207,272 employed in 2012. There was a steadier increase in the Nigerian female category, which ranked second highest with 111,201 employed in 2010, it increased by 9,555 or 8.59 per cent to 120,756 in 2011 and increased by 7,898 or 6.54 percent to 128,654 Nigerian females employed in 2012.
Similarly, non-Nigerian male also recorded a steady growth pattern across the three years. The document states that 27,553 non- Nigerian males were employed in 2010, which grew by 1,616 or 5.87 percent to 29,169 employed in 2011. It further grew by 5,292 or 18.14 per cent to 34,461 non-Nigerian males employed in 2012.
Non-Nigerian female was the lowest number of persons employed in all three years; it recorded a total of 3,979 in 2010, which declined by 60 or 1.51 per cent to 3,919 employed in 2011. The number, however, increased by 202 or 5.15 per cent to 4,121 non-Nigerian females employed in 2012. The total Nigerian male employed across the years averaged at 213,695.67, a 93,492 or 43.75 per cent increase from the 120,203.67 total average recorded for the Nigerian female, while total non-Nigerian male employed averaged at 30,394.33, a 26,388 or 86.82 percent increase from the average total of non-Nigerian female employed at 4,006.33.
“In all the three years, the males dominated the employment size in both the Nigerian and non- Nigerian categories, however, the Nigerian males ranked highest in all categories,” NBS clarified in its data. Accommodation and food services were classified as ‘Hotels and Restaurants’ sector but the sector was re-classified as a sub-sector under the service sector after postrebasing exercise.
It faced numerous challenges including instability in power supply, security, and negative global publicity and other challenges similar to the tourism sector in Nigeria.
In terms of earnings, gross earnings for the accommodation sector in Nigeria totalled N638, 978.08 million in 2010, which increased by N44, 888.41 million or 7.03 per cent to N683, 866.49 million in 2011 and by N46, 238.21 million or 6.76 per cent to reach N730, 104.70 million in 2012.
Across the three years, the sector’s gross earnings was dominated by income from accommodation, which totalled at N343,040.23 million in 2010, grew by N7,843.63 million or 2.29 per cent to reach a gross income of N350,883.86 million in 2011. In 2012, there was a higher level of growth of N35,179.47 million or 10.03 per cent amounting to N386,063.33 million. However, second largest earnings was generated from income from bar (beverages), which totalled at N150, 785.97 million in 2010, and increased by N68,588.37 million or 45.49 per cent to N219,374.34 million in 2011. There was a decline of N42, 782.19 million or 19.50 per cent to N176, 592.15 million in 2012.
The third largest contributor was income from restaurant services with a gross income of N64, 188.05 million in 2010. The year 2011 saw a growth of N10, 968.24 million or 17.09 per cent to reach a total of N75, 156.29 million, and further grew by N25, 407.14 million or 33.81 per cent to total at N100, 563.43 million in 2012.
The least contribution to the accommodation services was the income from camping ground, recreational vehicles and trailers totalling N914.86 million. Gross income grew by N352.56 million or 38.54 per cent to N1, 267.42 million in 2011 and further grew by N694.39 million or 54.79 per cent to N1, 961.81 million in 2012. Despite its steady increase, it remained the least contributor.
