the director general

Dr. Olayiwola Awakan, is a multiple award-winning broadcast journalist, dramatist, poet, and storyteller whose works cut across media, tourism and theatre. He was appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) as the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Authority (NTDA), effective September 2, 2025, for an initial term of four years.

Before his appointment, he was honoured with the Custodian of Culture Award by LEAD City University. As a broadcast journalist with TVC News, he won the 2022 Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) for TV Production of the Year and received an Honourable Mention at the 2023 Diamond Awards for Media Excellence. In 2021, he was named among the recipients of the Royal African Awards by His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi. Dr. Awakan was also a two-time winner of the Trek Africa TV Reporter of the Year Award (2019, 2020), alongside several other recognitions for his impactful special reports and documentaries.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communication from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Lagos, as well as a Certificate in Community Journalism from RUDN University, Russia. He combines media expertise with creative insight, bringing a dynamic perspective to leadership at NTDA. His approach is rooted in innovation, collaboration, and a strong belief in the power of tourism and culture as drivers of national unity and economic growth.

Beyond the newsroom, Dr. Awakan’s passion for storytelling extends to literature and theatre. His play Echoes of the Drums (2005) won a prize at the maiden Beeta Playwright Competition (2015) and was later staged by the National Troupe of Nigeria to mark Nigeria’s 62nd Independence Anniversary. His other plays include Tafawa Balewa, Behind the Map, Time Up, Blind Stab, White Charcoal, Jagabanism, Crawling Speed, Lodavence, The Madness that Cures My Land, The Legend of Oronna, and Crows of the Dawn, and The Scheme (a duology on NYSC), among others. He is also the author of "Eko Poems: An Anthology of Nursery Rhymes", and has his poetry featured in PEN Nigeria’s Anthology of Shadows and Rainbows (edited by Olu Obafemi and Folu Agoi) and Five Hundred Nigerian Poets (compiled by Prof. Jerry Agada).

Dr. Olayiwola Awakan is determined to use his wealth of knowledge, creativity and network to transform the tourism sector in Nigeria through strategic partnerships, leveraging technology, and strengthening Nigeria’s global tourism presence in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration.