As Abuja Carnival is set in motion

Plans are underway for a very successful outing of this year’s edition of the annual Abuja carnival, the Carnival Management Committee has announced. The event which has been scheduled to take place from Saturday, November 26 to Tuesday, November 29, 2011 has been tagged Carnival Of Reconciliation. According to the head of the committee and […]

Plans are underway for a very successful outing of this year’s edition of the annual Abuja carnival, the Carnival Management Committee has announced. The event which has been scheduled to take place from Saturday, November 26 to Tuesday, November 29, 2011 has been tagged Carnival Of Reconciliation. According to the head of the committee and Artistic Director, Professor Ojo Bakare, this would serve as a platform to reconcile various interest groups that are consequential to the survival and sustainability of the project.

The professor of dance further stated that, the carnival is expected to play the role of a unifying agent, where every state and political interest group would dovetail into one, regardless of the fact that various political groups that emerged during the last general elections may have affected the unity and oneness of the country.

“The most visible is political reconciliation. As a national carnival, the organizers cannot afford to be involved in partisan politics or work according to the dictate of certain political ideologies. The Carnival would be used as a platform to reconcile divergent political opinions because we need peace and unity to move ahead as a nation.”

To ensure an outing devoid of negative criticisms, the committee stressed that it has spent time collating views from relevant stakeholders including the media, the general public, politicians, youths as well as experts in the field. “This time, we would try to package a carnival that every group would identify with.

“After six experimental editions, we will be hosting a contemporary Carnival that reflects what is obtainable in other parts of the world. This however does not imply that the artistic content would be devoid of cultural elements but according to him, about 70 per cent of the packaging would be contemporary while the remaining 30 per cent will project the cultural potentials of the people of Nigeria.”

The four-day festival will include durbar, boat regatta, command performance, opening and closing street carnival, cultural night, traditional cuisine/bush bar and masquerade fiesta. Others include Miss Abuja beauty pageant, Contemporary Music Fiesta, as well as Youth and Children’s programme.

Originally conceived to have a conventional carnival as it is done in Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago, certain observations have been raised by religious interest groups that the event encourages immorality and idolatry. This development delayed the original take-off as all the interest groups had to be taken care of.

Abuja residents have expressed skepticism over the durbar taking place this year against the backdrop of grave disappointments which followed last year’s non-performance. Nkiru Oke, who travelled from Lagos to see the event, aired her views. “Last year, we all trouped en masse to the polo ground only to be told it was not holding. The durbar for a lot of us is the major attraction. It was so disappointing that it failed to hold after it was widely publicised.”

Adding to this, Idris Saidu said, “It was not such a bad outing, but it felt incomplete without the durbar. Also, I think the style of presentation should be changed from time to time.”

To this effect, Bakare, while stressing that the carnival management committee is only responsible for providing enabling environment and logistics rather than to facilitate the movement of horses from respective states, assured that the issue would be positively resolved.

Other events lined up for this year’s festival include, boat regatta, children and youth programme as well as contemporary musical show. He also assured that Abuja residents would fully participate at the fiesta. The committee, he further expatiated, is already discussing this possibility with various institutions and groups including secondary schools management within the FCT.

Following the criticisms which greeted last year’s outing, and the unenthusiastic nature of residents this time around, the committee is soliciting support from both federal and state governments; vis-à-vis funding, technical support and physical presence. He recalled that since the maiden edition of the Carnival in 2005, when former President Olusegun Obasanjo graced the event with his presence, no other President has shown any interest in national cultural festivals as they do in sports.

Speaking on behalf of the marketers of the Carnival, who are already receiving positive responses from prospective investors in the fiesta, Fashawe Kafirat, assured that the private sector’s presence would be greatly felt at this year’s festival.

“We cannot have a fantastic festival if it is not well funded. We have been talking to people in this regard and we are getting positive responses from organizations.”

The carnival route this year will be from Area 1, through Secretariat to the Eagle Square.