We are expecting 500, 000 visitors for Port Harcourt carnival– Sam Dede
What will make Carniriv 2014 tick? Carniriv 2014 will be intense and hosts great new events and activities. We expect no less than 500,000 participants in the carnival. We will have 23 LGA floats, 10 costume bands, 14km of street parades and other participants and cultural groups across the world. We will also have a Pageant […]
What will make Carniriv 2014 tick?
Carniriv 2014 will be intense and hosts great new events and activities. We expect no less than 500,000 participants in the carnival. We will have 23 LGA floats, 10 costume bands, 14km of street parades and other participants and cultural groups across the world. We will also have a Pageant for the first time. We usually would have a Nollywood star as the face of the Carniriv but this year, we will do a beauty pageant to have a real Port Harcourt girl be the face of Carniriv so we can introduce the Port Harcourt Beauty to the world. The pageant is open to all Nigerian girls who believe in Port Harcourt. No discrimination. We say come expecting. Our carnival is like magic. You get swept off your feet when you come to Carniriv. This year, we will unveil the largest performance arena in Africa. Anybody who will perform on that stage will be a talented artist. In fact we will name the stage. It will be a monument when fully set up. The normal standard of any international stage is 60×40 feet but here we are setting up 100×60 feet massive stage. I can assure you, if you put a band with about up 250 members on that stage, they will perform successfully. It will really be big and the theme too is very significant. The boat regatta event which is the international aquatic fiesta, has been designed to be bigger and better. We are going to have a bigger floating stage this year. We will put out a stage right on top of the river where artist will perform.
Talking about the theme – One Love, One People – and you even add a million smiles to it, what is the philosophy behind it?
Yes this year’s theme is One Love, One People, One million Smiles because we like to see everyone happy and smiling. The theme is informed by reasons that are self-evident: Our country and indeed the global community has embraced globalization – the breaking down of barriers, the closing of ranks between people of diverse colours, creed, culture, political leaning, race etc. Our theme is well thought out because it means that we are all united as a people, diverse as we are in creed, and culture and faith and opinion – we celebrate our oneness as people of the greatest city in Nigeria – calm, peaceful, fun filled and original. We want to celebrate our oneness as a people – as Nigerians. I also did the lyrics of the song. It’s been a year of so much bombings and bloodshed, and political tensions. We are saying we want to use our carnival as a symbol of unity and oneness. If you listen to the theme song, there is a line that says, grab the costumes, forget the guns and let us be one. We don’t want to hear bombs anymore, we want to hear the sound of good music. We do to want to see emergencies and people running helter-skelter, we want to see performances and colours of the rainbow on our street and not bombs and political divides. We don’t need those. So it’s one love, one people and we want it to remain like that.
Beyond the parties and fun, what will be the economic benefits to the state?
The economic benefits of our carnival are immense. The hotels and other services get a boost. If you are coming to the carnival, you would need to book ahead. It’s a carnival that is growing and we are proud of our achievements. If you visit the carnival market during the carnival, you can buy just about anything. We do not do carnivals for the sake of it; we do carnivals because we want our people to benefit from the economic prospects. Even if it means you selling sachet water during the carnival, you will make profit. It has ripple effect on Port Harcourt economy. There are also the people in rural areas that have the chance of visiting PH once in a year on the bills of their local governments.
All carnival costumes are made by local designers and costumiers based in Port Harcourt and membership of the bands is free. We give out cash awards and other prizes to participants to encourage them to grow. The 2013 designer is currently undergoing capacity building training in South Africa. Evidently, the carnival serves in mobilising the people to share ideals, celebrate what is common between them, bond together and connect with one another. From a commercial perspective, SMEs and other businesses profit every year from the increased human traffic and patronage from the huge crowd that pour into Port Harcourt during the one week period. Let’s not forget that tourism is also enjoys a boost for the state before, during and after the carnival as hotels, recreational centres, tourist sites, arts, culture, advertising, publishing and creative companies, plus food and beverage companies etc all profit from the increase in human and vehicular traffic during the period of the carnival. Hundreds of direct and indirect employments and sustenance is created along the value chain through the carnival as millions of naira exchange hands every day.
How would you address security issues?
Security of every participant is guaranteed. Our security consultant is working on security issues. The idea is to ensure that everyone who participates in the carnival is safe. We are working with all the security agencies as we have always done. We are involving all the security agencies in managing the security concerns.
What about concerns over Ebola?
As for the street parade, rehearsals are at top gear and we are working with the director of public health, in terms of managing the health situation particularly the Ebola response because we don’t take things for granted.
Are you worried about Calabar festival?
For us, our carnival isn›t a competition. In any case, that is why we start our carnival a week before the Calabar Carnival so we don’t have overlapping. We have a big carnival and we have never bothered about people leaving ours to go elsewhere. Our carnival is huge and we have events for everybody. So it’s one week of reverie and intense dance and music. At the end of the day, everything extends into fireworks. It’s like doing our Christmas before Christmas.
Who are the artistes to perform?
We are unveiling the list of the artistes that will be performing at the flag off in Lagos where we will invite all of them to meet with the press. Last year, we used 56 upcoming Port Harcourt based artistes. We gave them the same opportunity to perform on the same stage with international artists, using the same stories as international artists and all of them were paid. We will do more this year.
You participated at the Notting Hill Carnival for three years, what’s the value to the Carniriv brand?
The project is Carniriv at Notting Hill Carnival. We also do the same at the carnival in Trinidad and Tobago. Our intention is to globalize our carnival. We want to get Carniriv carnival to be on the list of globally recognized carnivals and we are getting there. I’m sure if you ask people in London, they will tell you they know about Carniriv. Same in Trinidad and Tobago. That’s the whole idea of participating in those international carnivals. We want to tell the whole world that when it’s winter in Europe, America and elsewhere, and people are looking for places to go to, there is a carnival in a place where the sun light comes up as early as 6am and doesn’t go down till 6pm. This is the place to be during winter. It’s beginning to happen because people are bombarding our website. Last year we had a packaged tour for 25 people from the United Kingdom who attended the carnival. We are not talking of others that came on their own. We set up a strategic development plan to globalised our carnival to rank among other carnivals in the world.