Less jubilation for jubilee carnival

Twenty eight states registered presence. From the pool of nigeria’s diplomatic friends came contigents from Canada, India and Egypt that participated in the four-day fiesta, which featured street parades, children’s fiesta, polo tournament, traditional; food fair, cultural night, masquerade fiesta, boat regatta, and a command performance. For the Street Carnival initiated last year to encourage […]

Twenty eight states registered presence. From the pool of nigeria’s diplomatic friends came contigents from Canada, India and Egypt that participated in the four-day fiesta, which featured street parades, children’s fiesta, polo tournament, traditional; food fair, cultural night, masquerade fiesta, boat regatta, and a command performance.
For the Street Carnival initiated last year to encourage public participation, the public didn’t think there was much room for them to participate asides vendors who displayed or hawked their wares.
Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers with Nassarawa and Benue making their first appearances participated in the Boat Regatta. At the opening ceremony at the Jabi Lake, the Executive Secretary, National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO) and Chairman of the event, Dr. Barclays Ayakoroma, commended the efforts of the middle belt states. While urging them to allow the display of their aquatic splendor to over-ride the spirit of competition, he noted the appropriateness of Benue’s participation, which according to him, was one of the major sources of water in the country.
Earlier, tourists and Durbar enthusiasts who trooped to the Equestrian Club ground, where the Durbar was to hold, were greeted with the sad and disappointing news that the event would not take place and special durbar polo tournament, an elite event, would in its stead.
With the durbar being a major attraction of the Carnival, many like Mary-Ann had travelled from the United States and Ndudi Ibe from Owerri, Imo State hoping to witness the colourful and regal display of horses and their riders left in frustration. Explaining the reason for the mishap, Artistic Director of the Carnival, Prof. Bakare Ojo Rasaki said the participating emirates could not raise 140 million naira to bring their horses to the carnival.
According to him, it would also cost the emirates over two million naira to decorate each horse for the carnival; the Abuja Carnival Committee cannot afford to give out such amount of money for durbar alone because there are lots of other pressing financial obligations to attend to. “We have always had the Durbar. But this year, the emirates said it would cost them 140million naira to bring their horses to the carnival. And it would cost about two million naira to decorate one horse. Where will I get such money? I don’t even have that kind of money.”
It was as a result of this that the organisers of the Abuja Carnival opted for polo, an equally equestrian performance, which they indicated is cheaper. Among the emirates expected at the Durbar were Borno, Nupe, Kano, Katsina and Zaria. Polo, he added, was introduced into the carnival last year.
It was gathered that previous durbar displays in the Abuja Carnival were always funded by the central working committee of the carnival as well as sponsors like Dangote and Stanbic IBTC Bank, which financed it in 2008. This year’s festival probably suffered poor financing from the Federal Government. In addition to underfunding, regular changes in the composition of the central working committee also have impacted negatively on private investors as well as building a concrete rapport with them.
A regular figure in cultural events across the nation, Hon. KGB Oguakwa, House Committee Chairman on Culture and Tourism, opined that the festival be incorporated into Argungu Fishing and Cultural Festival. He urged the private sector to occupy the driver’s seat in funding the festaval. According to him, what government should be involved in is to make the atmosphere conducive – provide enabling environment and infrastructure.
Nasarawa State again emerged the overall best. Many of the states added new twists to their contents. Such were Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom States who both made impressive outings in style, creativity and organisation. Akwa Ibom, though was last month’s host to NAFEST, came out enmasse with over eight hundred participants in brilliant colours and attires.
The participating states were judged in six categories; including boat regatta, carnival performance, traditional food fair, children event and cultural night. However, the overall judgment was anchored on 14 sub categories – boat regatta, most spectacular performance, best costumed contingent and best decorated regatta boat and carnival performance.
Others were carnival queen, best carnival costume, est carnival performance, best carnival king and best carnival float, best masquerade performance, most spectacular masquerade and best masquerade costume, traditional food fair, children event as well as cultural night performance.
In his closing remarks, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Alhaji Ibrahim Mahe, noted that the opening, just as the closing ceremony was exciting as it gave Nigerians and tourists the opportunity to see the rich cultural heritage of our great nation and the creative ingenuity of our people at a glance.
Tourism master plan implementation team inaugurated
The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation has inaugurated a technical committee on the implementation of Nigeria’s tourism development master plan following the advice of the National Planning Commission to fast track the implementation of the  of recommendations of the master plan, which is the roadmap  for the development of Nigeria’s tourism sector.
The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Mohammed, at the inauguration in Abuja, said it was necessary to set up the new committee since the previous implementation committee set up by the Ministry in January 2008 could not perform “as nothing concrete was  achieved in its two years of existence,’ hence was disbanded in March this year.”
Alhaji Mohammed tasked the committee to review the project proposals produced by the field mission and articulate the short, medium and long-term plans for the implementation of the master plan and mainstream it into the Vision20:2020 of the government.
The Minister said on assumption of office , he observed that “the erstwhile implementation committee failed probably because the ministry did not avail itself of the expertise of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), which contributed immensely to its production and is well positioned to provide guidance for its implementation.”
The Minister said he took the task of approaching the UNWTO upon himself, which he said sent its director in July to Nigeria on a Field Mission to review the master plan and also held discussions with stakeholders, adding that “the Field Mission produced a project proposal with clearly outlined time-table and requirements for the implementation of the master plan.” 
Responding on behalf of the committee, Samuel Alabi, representing the private sector on the committee, assured the minister that the committee would deliver its work within the time frame and thanked the minister for choosing them for the work. The Committee was given three weeks to conclude its work.