2016: Looking back at Abuja Carnival

Although there were contingents from about twenty states in attendance at the December 3-6, 2016 Abuja carnival, the cultural fiesta was visibly missing tourists from within Abuja and beyond, which usually are a major part of the festivity.  For the annual event which usually begins at about 8am on the start day with a street […]

Although there were contingents from about twenty states in attendance at the December 3-6, 2016 Abuja carnival, the cultural fiesta was visibly missing tourists from within Abuja and beyond, which usually are a major part of the festivity. 

For the annual event which usually begins at about 8am on the start day with a street parade from the Area 1 roundabout – with spectators joining in at various already chosen vantage points – it didn’t quite have the same pattern this time. Many didn’t know that the starting point this time around was the Eagle Square and that although it had been scheduled to begin at 8am, it would not start until about noon.  

Just as there was hardly any publicity in terms of adverts or posters about the event, press conferences which would have equipped the media with information to disseminate to the public on their various platforms about the event, also didn’t hold as the event drew closer. 

Unlike past editions where Abuja residents and other tourists would have known the carnival route from strategically-placed banners and posters which would have mapped them out from weeks before, beginning at the Area 1 roundabout, many of them like Ahidjo Ismail, said it was confusing to identify the route this time.

He said: “I didn’t even know the carnival was starting today. It was a friend of mine who told me he had seen them around Eagle Square gathering for what seemed like a procession. I was a little confused because I expected the procession should have started near me here in Area 1. 

“Unlike before when I could join the crowd gathered on the balcony of the shopping complex, this time, I had to take public transport to go and see them at Eagle Square. 

“But even then, I waited from about 9am until 12:15pm or so, before they started anything. I had to return back to my shop here to face my business,” he said, somewhat disappointed. 

It was hardly different for Kaliat Aliyu who spoke to our reporter at about 10am. “It is quite frustrating that nobody can provide you any information about what is going on. I’ve been waiting for about an hour now and it’s only police personnel who don’t even have any information to give about the carnival.” 

She said: “In my frustration, I tried to look online if I could find anything and came across this site: http://www.abuja-ng.com/abuja-carnival.html which says absolutely nothing. 

“I think it’s sad that in this era of technology and with the popularity of this carnival, I can’t find even a Facebook page on the carnival to get information. I will wait and see because I came from Kaduna to watch it,” Aliyu said.

To verify Aliyu’s claim, Daily Trust searched through Facebook and found a page, ‘Abuja Carnival’ with the cover photograph of a choir performing on stage and only two posts. The more recent post was a shared photo of the ‘Africa Paramilitary Band Festival’ posted on May 30 2015. The first post was the August 31, 2012 updated cover photo of the page. Daily Trust couldn’t ascertain if it were the official page for the Carnival or one that had been privately set up.

Directors of arts and culture from various states, during a stakeholders forum held weeks before the carnival expressed concerns about finances and the possibility of giving the carnival their best especially after the previous year’s had been cancelled at the last minute after all had been set for them to fully participate. 

For those who made it to the four-day event the general complaint was of poor planning, logistics, inadequate guidance and mapping of the carnival route, insufficient attention to the welfare of participants and accommodation as some participants had to sleep in the open. They noted that funfairs and side attractions – not only numbers of participants or spectators – contributed to the success of carnivals. 

With the carnival being an annual event, they suggested that better funding, publicity, scheduling and attention to the contingents would go a long way in ensuring better participation and success in upcoming editions, while organizers corrected the flaws of previous editions.

For Kogi State’s Director of Arts and Culture, Ministry of Arts and Culture, Mr. Itodo Daniel, all the sufferings paid off with their emergence as overall winner in the competitive event. 

Artistic Director and Head of the organising committee of the carnival, Mr. Biodun Abe, who admitted that the carnival wasn’t as successful as he would have loved it to be, said it had nevertheless met its objectives and had also grown. 

Abe while speaking to journalists, said that the aim of the fiesta had not been lost regardless the various challenges: “I am happy the carnival was successful, maybe not exactly as I would have loved it to be or as it used to be with almost all the states in attendance.

 “The carnival is designed to give an opportunity to participants to compete for awards in the various activities with the view of developing their creative abilities for economic empowerment,” he said.

Although it was a visibly empty arena at the Eagle Square with more police personnel spectators, Abe who said the carnival was a platform to present and preserve Nigeria’s rich intangible cultural heritage, also said the carnival serves as a magnet for the attraction of tourists into the country and the development of tourism in the country.

According to him, all these were achieved, not minding how little the impact was felt. “We know that there were lots of lapses this time which the economic situation of the country mostly contributed to,” he said.

Events which made up this year’s outing included the street carnival, boat regatta, masquerade display, durbar, traditional cuisine and bush bar, children’s fiesta as well as a display of locally produced arts and craft and contemporary music.

Tourists like Chukwuebuka Ezegwu, 38, said visiting the local crafts men and patronizing them was the highpoint for him. “I was here in 2009 or so and coming this time, I’m very happy to see new innovations from our craftsmen in terms of the kind of works they have displayed here. The sculptures, leather works and all, are quite encouraging especially with the kind of materials they have used.”

Ezegwu, a graduate of Fine Art said: “It is my first time of seeing works from Bida which I had heard about them in the course of my education. I really do look forward to a time when this sector would be positioned as a major earner for the country, beyond the lip service and talks about diversifying the economy and repositioning the sector.” 

Nigerians in our usual characteristics were going to make the most of what was available whether it met their expectations or not. They were bent on enjoying whatever spectacle was available.

Gallantly dressed horsemen mounted on equally colourfully clad horses all adorned with glistering swords, locally crafted leather shoes, robes and headgears embellished with embroideries drew spectators who struggled to catch a glimpse of them as their mobile devices clicked away with snapshots. 

It was just as much delight for them when dancers, acrobats, jugglers, jesters, animal handlers, fire eaters came on stage and gave spectacular performances showing off their dexterity and mastery of their various arts to the delight of their audience which acknowledged their efforts with applauses and cheers. 

Winning states in the various categories were Abia, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Gombe, Katsina, Nasarawa, Ogun with Kogi taking home the overall winning trophy with 12 awards.

A few days before the carnival began, the National Council for Arts and Crafts had held the ninth edition of the African Arts & Crafts expo at the Arts & Crafts Village. Although participants from across Nigeria, Africa and beyond said it was a poor outing this year compared to previous editions, they were happy to stay on and explore the possibility of more markets at the carnival. 

An objective of the carnival is to leverage on culture to promote unity as well as drive the country’s economy through tourism. This, a first-timer like Ola Iyanda, thought had been achieved.

She said: It is a fantastic and rich display of culture and art and a rare opportunity to learn about cultures in Nigeria at the same time and in so few days. I have only been to the Calabar Carnival and I was determined to see this one this year. It is my first time of seeing durbar display or Igbo traditional dance face-to-face. I am so happy, I came.”

For the 27-year-old Ekiti resident it didn’t matter if the Eagle Square barely had any tourists in attendance as she said: “That’s their loss. I am here and having the time of my life watching these displays and taking photos.  

To succeed with things like this, it is advisable to learn from those who have done it before and succeeded. It is in a bid to fulfill this that over the years, there have been Nigerian delegates attending Brazil’s Rio Carnival or London’s Notting Hill Carnival. The question following these visits for many is – why don’t they apply what they have seen to our own carnivals?

Since August 2016, information about the 2017 edition of the Notting Hill Carnival which is expected to hold at the end of August, have been available for various mainstream and other media platforms including several official websites of the carnival. 

The information available include different events making up the carnival, things to do and places to visit while in London, options for accommodation, restaurants, best routes to avoid congested ones and transportation, among others. 

Tourists planning to attend the Rio Carnival began making plans last year when itineraries for the 2017 carnival to hold from February 24 to March 04, 2017, was released. Samba schools which are the central part of the annual cultural extravaganza have announced their official parade lines and tourists can decide early on which ones they would support in the competition and participate in. 

Ticket sales have also started as Samba schools begin technical rehearsals which will go on until February with the public free to join in as dates for the carnival up to the year 2020 have been released. 

Asides information on costumes, songs and parade themes, the official Rio Carnival site also provides information on the “2017 Rio Carnival ev¬¬ents, venues, Rio Carnival’s history, 2017 Rio Carnival tickets, costumes for the 2017 Samba Parade and Sambodromo information, accomplished with insiders’ recommendations.”

For tourists keen on information about the history of the carnivals the official sites have on hand in-depth information in text, photography, podcasts and videos among others, in various languages to satisfy their queries. 

On the Brazil for Foreigners website an article – ‘The Business of the Brazilian Carnival’ which quoted Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism said: “about 6.8 million domestic and foreign tourists travel around the country during the carnival period, which generates US$6.6 billion for the national economy.”

The article also said through the country’s  ‘Carnival Project,’ a Brazilian Agency for Promotion and Export and Investment (Apex-Brazil) initiative – aimed to strengthen relations between Brazilian companies and potential foreign importers and distributors – the Brazilian carnival generated over US$ 628.41 million (₦198 billion) in one year.

Prof. Steve Abah a theatre and culture practitioner and activist with almost four decades in the industry spoke to Daily Trust on ways the carnival could be reengineered to be more viable and productive. 

He said: “I was in Abuja for one of the days of the carnival and it was a sorry sight. I saw state contingents just walking and parading the streets and making stupid movements. There was nothing exciting about them, no routine of movements. I asked myself if this is what they call the national carnival.”

Abah who is also a lecturer at the Ahmadu Belllo University, Zaria said: “Until organizers sit down and give the carnival thorough thoughts and what it means to have a carnival on the federal level and stop disgracing Nigeria – unless people are simply making money off it – we won’t have a worthy carnival.” 

He said: “When u look at Cross River which is state and what they are doing with the Calabar Carnival and you compare with the Abuja Carnival on the federal level, I think the people involved with the federal organization should be flogged.”

According to Abah: “A carnival of this magnitude shouldn’t be one where you pick a handful of ministry staff to do the planning. Also, the fact that you are calling people in theatre doesn’t mean they’re experts. There are two sides to a carnival – the flamboyance of event in terms of costumes. People in theatre with expertise in costume and performance, can be brought in.

“But with the actual event these people may not have the expertise and therefore those qualified should be the ones who do the job. For such a carnival there is need to work with experts in different areas and whoever is engaged as the carnival’s director would need to work with other people to succeed. 

“People should be humble and honest and not appropriate other people’s roles and responsibilities. They should come from a perspective where they are open to working with others who have expertise in specific areas that make up the carnival.”

Appraising the Carnival, Abah said: In general, the carnival has been a disgrace. The carnival is an institution and should operate as such.” 

As the Minister of Information & Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said in December at the Ijakadi Festival in Offa, Kwara State that: “Our ultimate aim is to ensure that our festivals are among the top 20 festivals in the world,” Nigerians remain hopeful that it would come to pass.