A golden jubilee and carnival in Lagos
The occasion, which was one of the many programmes already lined up to mark the institution’s golden jubilee anniversary, witnessed processions of students who were segregated into groups, with each appearing in the national colours, costumes, traditional attires as well as cultural symbols that replicate ideals, values and creeds of the country they represent. The […]
The occasion, which was one of the many programmes already lined up to mark the institution’s golden jubilee anniversary, witnessed processions of students who were segregated into groups, with each appearing in the national colours, costumes, traditional attires as well as cultural symbols that replicate ideals, values and creeds of the country they represent.
The trans-cultural parade, which began at about 10:30 am, was kick-started with the Brazilian train taking the floor. A king and his flamboyantly dressed queen led other members of the group. They were all adorned in the Brazilian national colours of yellow, green and light blue. As they waved, danced past the audience, they waved the country’s miniature flags while some raised banner conveying Brazil’s goodwill message for UNILAG as it marked its 50th anniversary.
The Brazilian train was closely trailed by the Chinese. A man and a woman decked in the costumes of ancient Chinese kings and queens also led the train, while two other female companions held a banner proclaiming Chinese felicitation for the institution. The population of the Chinese group was relatively small when compared to their Brazilian counterparts. They nonetheless put up a remarkable performance.
Next on the trail of the Chinese was the Cuban crew. The rest of the train was led by a king and a queen ridding horses. The horses were also adorned with Cuban national colours of blue, white and red. The duo thrilled the audience with their horse-riding prowess. They were accompanied by a large number of people, most of whom were women, beaming pleasant smiles. They raised their umbrellas and also waved the huge Cuban flag held by two of the group members.
Behind the Cubans were Ghanaians. Like other trains before it, the group was led by a man and woman, both elegantly dressed with the popular Ghanaian kente cloth which some Nigerians often called, “Akwaba”. The man put on the well-known Ghanaian wrapper even as his Queen was also adorned with traditional beads. The Ghanaian flag carrier appeared to be more innovative than the others as the young man holding the flag was artistically cloned in the nation’s celebrated colours of green, yellow and red while the star symbol of the national flag was strategically carved on his chest.
After the Ghanaians came the Indians. Though of relative number, the group succeeded in displaying caricatures of some Indian artefacts with a man dressed in Hindi attires, leading his colleagues. The king and queen were also decked in traditional Indian attire. Only a few members of the Indian group were with their flags.
The Jamaicans, who were tailing the Indians, were led into the parade ground by their queen riding a horse. The horse was extravagantly decked in the Jamaican national colours. There were also two female companions of the queen holding the banner bearing a goodwill message. The female companions had their faces decorated with Jamaican masks. The Jamaican King was incredibly adorned with larger-than-life feathers of Jamaican national colours.
Next after the Jamaicans was the Trinidad and Tobago train. The group had an amazing number of followers. Perhaps more than any other participating team. The group was led by a lone queen, decked in butterfly-like apparel adorned with flamboyant feathers. The members were gorgeously dressed too, appearing in two different attires, both of which were embodied in national colours.
The first set came with the felicitation banner, all raising their umbrellas which were in white and red colours. The second set closely followed, wearing white vests and skirts with red and yellow colours. They all had their umbrellas too. One other unique thing about the T&T group was that virtually all the members had their umbrellas adorned in their national colours.
The Egyptian train followed. The king and his queen were decked in the ancient Egyptian attire of the pharaohs. The South African group came on the trail of the Egyptians. The group almost deafened the audience with its indiscriminate blowing of South African vuvuzela. Its king was dressed in typical Zulu warrior attire and the queen was adorned with beads. Both stepped into the parade arm-in-arm.
The last of the parading groups was the Nigerian team. Their outing appeared to be the worst when compared to the others. It appeared the group wasn’t in the programme before but was hurriedly included. The attires were nowhere as captivating except for the Queen who was well-decked in Benin traditional beads. The group members were not organized neither did they really show much enthusiasm.
The management team of UNILAG, led by the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Rahman Bello later came to the parade ground, recited the national anthem and observed a minute silence in honour of the late VC, Prof. Adetokumbo Shofoluwe.
In his address, the Acting VC said the colourful world carnival was floated to celebrate the robust relationship that has so far existed between UNILAG and many other institutions of the world in the last 50 years.
“In the true carnival fashion, I see that you have all turned out massively in colourful costumes to publicly mark this great milestone with parades, music and traditional dances,” Bello said.
But before the campus wide procession, each of the national groups took their turns before the Acting VC and his team, to recite their native national anthem which they did with incredible perfection. The audience who were thrilled with such masterful display encouraged them with rousing applauses but none evoked their passions most until the two stanzas of the Nigerian national anthem were sang. There was wild jubilation everywhere with participants of other groups also joining in the celebration.
In a chat with Sunday Trust, UNILAG Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Kayode Amund said the inter-continental carnival was an initiative of students of Creative Arts department of the institution and that they were joined by their counterparts from Theatre Arts and Music from Lagos State University (LASU). He further noted that the essence was to display to the world the carnival experience UNILAG has tapped from the Caribbean nations, famous for their street carnivals.
Jayeoba Alamu, one of the female participants in the carnival said she and her colleagues simply wanted to catch fun having watched similar carnivals especially the annual Calabar street carnivals on Television on many occasions.
“We really want to experience what it feels like. We see it as fun and we are quite eager to participate and catch the fun to the fullest,” Alamu said.
Sunday Trust however observed that as colourful and memorable as the event was, there was no diplomatic representatives of any of the countries the students represented. That of course was a minus that denied the event the full global recognition it deserves.