After a hiatus of two years following the crunchy impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Nigeria’s largest street party, the Calabar Carnival, is back and bigger.
Mr. Eric Anderson, Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Cross River State made this known during an interview in Abuja on Tuesday, November 29, 2022. He said the 2022 edition of the Calabar Carnival will hold from December 1 to 31, 2022. He noted that no fewer than ten countries are expected to participate in the event, stating that it has become necessary for the celebrated street party to return in a grand style and set the path for a more joyous and prosperous New Year during the festive season.
The Commissioner further disclosed that
so far, 20 states across the country have indicated interest to participate in
the carnival, which will feature different songs and stage productions, award
ceremony, choreography, music, power week, bikers’ day, beauty pageantry,
street parties, beach soccer, and old school parties, among others. He explained
that in making this year’s edition more colourful and exciting, popular
Nigerian singers, Mercy Chinwo and Joe Praize have been lined up for the event.
The expectant audience are in for great fun this festive season as other performers
such as popular disc jockey, Jimmy D, Psalmist, Moses Bliss, Calabar-based artistes,
and various choir bands will all be on ground to thrill the fans to stellar
performances.
“For two years, there was a global
issue that did not allow events across international lines to take place and
for us, we are resuming as most big events around the world had their carnival
a few month ago. Cross River is Nigeria’s tourism destination, so we are ready
with exciting events,” said Mr. Anderson, adding that the hiatus has provided
the opportunity for retrospect in order to raise the bar of the carnival. “One
of the aspects we realised is that we had a lot of people that want to be
revellers in our carnival bands and so the size increased. We had to create two
more bands from the five bands we had to make it seven. For this year, we will
be having seven bands to be competing.”
On security, Anderson said adequate
security measures have been put in place to nip in the bud potential security
issues, adding that the protection of lives and property are paramount while
also assuring local and international guests of a more secured event. “I can
tell you for a fact that we have proper security on ground. I say this on very
good authority because I am also part of the team that went round on courtesy
call to all the security heads in Cross River.”
In ensuring that all works well, a dry
run was successfully carried out. The commissioner said the organisers have all
the heads of those security arms participating in it and they have given their
full commitment. He admitted that there are pockets of insecurity issues around
the country, but the organisers will try their best to secure the state, the
event venues, all routes and lives and property.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
