The annual Abuja Carnival was begun many years ago to encourage the promotion of cultural and tourism potentials in the Federal Capital territory. The event which hitherto had grown into an enviable festival, attracting participants from far and near, did not happen last year. When it was time for it to be celebrated two years ago, the federal government said it did not have enough resources to run it. What therefore happened in the last two years, left many close watchers of events in the culture sector wondering whether the Abuja Carnival would ever see the light of day again.
But all hope is not lost. In the past few weeks, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been making frantic efforts to bring back the event. In order to achieve this aim, he has consulted far and wide and has therefore set up different committees to help bring back this glorious festival that helps to ignite the federal capital territory November every year. A member of one of the committees and a senior staff of the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN), Shaibu Husseini, explained the nitty gritty of the new face Abuja Carnival and what the nation stands to gain from it.
He said, “Oh, well, I am happy to inform that there is an effort to revive the Abuja Carnival to get it going again. The Minister has just constituted a carnival management committee and I am privileged to be a member of the committee. Good enough, Abiodun Abe in returning as the Artistic Director of the carnival. There are other members too, even though it has not been formally inaugurated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. After a press conference by the minister, shortly, the committee will formally take off,” Husseini reiterated.
With the minister as the chairman of the planning committee of the festival, it becomes imperative for the people concerned to look inwards to give the nation a benefitting carnival come November this year. To this end, Husseini said, “Yes, it was to hold last year, unfortunately, however, the minister was appointed barely a week before the carnival. Therefore he felt the arrangement in place was not appropriate to have a successful outing. This was why he put it forward so as to have it more properly organized and done. And this year, he felt the carnival is the flagship of the ministry and so it has to happen. He thinks it is time for us to properly re-institutionalize the carnival. If this is done, people will continue to look forward to every November to have a colourful festival. This is why he began on time for early arrangement which involves a lot of stakeholders.
With series of meetings and consultations with stakeholders in the culture and tourism sectors of the economy, it is possible to have a huge carnival that will yield huge resources for the country. “Artistes and other people involved are fully engaged in this regard. We want to ensure that this year’s will fly so as to bring back the glory of this all-important event. I want to say that I am excited about the prospects of the carnival on two levels. The first level is that this is the first time it will happen under a Ministry of Information and Culture. Before now, it happened under the Culture and Tourism ministry. So then, we relied on the information arm of the Federal Ministry of Information for publicity for the event. This proved very ineffective and difficult. Today, the story is different and therefore publicity will no longer be an issue. Secondly, we now have a Minister who is interested in packaging an event that will boast tourism development in the country. He has been so consistent so far in order to ensure that the carnival itself outlives the committee members and so forth.”
At the moment, Abuja Carnival has lost its grip on stakeholders and state contingents have not been active in the last few years. Most foreigners who had grown to love the festival and were even sending delegates to be a part of it have been left in the dark. Now that the festival is about to kick off again, how will their interest be revived? A lot of knotty issues have to be sorted out to drive the tourism sector in a way to have the carnival become meaningful once more. To Husseini, this is a situation the present crop of people in the committee are prepared to shoulder. What is paramount at the moment is that the carnival will happen in a big way and all the people; states and foreign participants, will come back fully.
He said; “Already, the issue of funding may not be a problem. As part of the structures put in place by the minister, he has also put in place a sponsorship committee to handle the issue of funding. That committee has been there all along. But now, it will have more bite. He has also volunteered to lead the drive himself in order to make it more effective. In addition, the government will also provide its own funding. In terms of the foreign participants and so on, with the aid of publicity that will be done and with the involvement of the relevant people in the ministry, and those in-charge of foreign relations, we are going to have a bigger boost this year. Also the relevant sector of the Foreign Affairs Ministry will be involved in this regard.”
As at now, the committee in-charge of contacts and mobilization has gone to town, reaching out to the necessary people and agencies. This is to redraw attention to the importance of the festival as a point of unity for the nation. This is why there are going to be series of workshops and meetings, to streamline issues and come out with watertight schedules that will make for an excellent outing. “This is why the minister doesn’t want this to be a solely government affair. He wants us therefore to have a true national carnival that is located in Abuja. This is a point of cohesion for the people and for the nation. This is to give us the necessary platform to showcase the best of our cultures and tourism potentials. Don’t forget that this year’s theme is: the creative industries; a pivot to national development.”
But in a situation where the economy is in recession and most states cannot pay salaries, is it possible for them to be truly involved in this matter this year? For Husseini, this is no issue. “You see, you know, recession does not usually affect culture and cultural matters. Culture will still live even in a depressed economy. But what I know is that with the kind of enthusiasm the minister has shown, it will be very easy to mobilize the states, to have the ear of the governors and see how they’ll encourage their states’ artistes to be there.”
In order to see how culture and other properties of traditional heritages can help to diversify the economy, the Abuja Carnival can then be said to be in order. Now that there is absolute peace in Abuja and its environs, this is the most poignant time to bring back the event. It is to continue to cement issues of love and togetherness where culture plays the most relevant role for civil orderliness. “It is to show also that Nigeria is a happy place where they can spend their holidays. These cultural products will drive tourism. And while the Abuja Carnival is on, you’ll see plenty of these products on display. There, varieties of costumes, masquerades, durbar, boat regatta and so on will be displayed.”
Security will also be provided along all the carnival routes. The routes will also be decorated with different colours to synchronise with the mood of the people and the theme of the event. Usually, the festival happens for three days during the last week of November and Husseini is saying that this timing may not be altered this year.
