Why Abuja Carnival remains the only viable tourism product for Nigeria

NIGERIA (eTN) – The first edition of Abuja Carnival was held in 2005, and it has continued every year to relive the dazzling displays of the event.

NIGERIA (eTN) – The first edition of Abuja Carnival was held in 2005, and it has continued every year to relive the dazzling displays of the event. Abuja residents and people across the country can be heard discussing the carnival very passionately because of its yearly unique sights and sounds.

Before Abuja Carnival, it was nearly impossible to find Nigerians appreciating any bit of their cultural heritage that gained national acceptability. Like many writers have noted in the past, customs in Nigeria have always competed with religion in the peopleโ€™s minds, and, therefore, the current of the Abuja Carnival has been running deep, because it got most Nigerians talking, and international visitors couldnโ€™t believe that there could be that much of a spectacle in a country perpetually painted abroad as so black.

The carnival, an assemblage of contingents from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), converge at a location to make separate statements in tradition and lifestyle, where the least one would get is a snapshot of a country that has shied from asserting her native endowments on the worldโ€™s consciousness for too long.

With the carnivalโ€™s modest successful outing in the past five editions, this yearโ€™s edition will not be different, offering the very usual, but in an upgraded manner, which will include durbar, masquerades, command performances, and a boat regatta procession that has helped practitioners in overcoming the hurdle of identifying the right tourism product for Nigeria.

The entire tourism and arts communities are in agreement that the country has finally realized that the best it can offer the world is cultural tourism, which regrettably the ineptitude of those responsible for the promotion and marketing of Nigeria as a destination have failed to do for a long time.

Despite the good intention of the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation in believing that the carnival and the host city, Abuja, would, with every edition, be a sort of “window” for all the states to show as well as display their tourism potentials, not many have taken the platform provided by the carnival so far.

In ensuring that the aforementioned is achieved, the 2010 Abuja Carnival Management Committee has opted for a bigger space to enable the states more room to exhibit come the carnival proper next month, moving away from the traditional arts and crafts village, where participating states have souvenirs and memorabilia for sale, such as raffia, brass, adire, leatherworks, woodcarvings, and beads, among other handicrafts.

To many travel and tourism analysts, they are still very surprised that a product rich in content and with several unique features exists, and Abuja Carnival still remains a hard sell.

Today, Abuja Carnival Durbar parades the largest number of horses elegantly decorated with costumes that cannot be easily pick up in the market – it is an amazing sight to behold anywhere in the world. Apart from the dexterity of the horsemen spinning swords and spears in their hands every now and then, experts say the jewelry made of pure silver draped on each horse came close to US$10,000.

With states from the northern part of the country bringing to Abuja thousands of horses for the carnival, Benue State parading its world famous and exceptional Kwag-hir puppetry, and the south-south states flaunting their aquatic prowess packaged alongside some notable historical discoveries, such as NOK sculpture and the Sukur World Heritage Site, there are enough products for a quality week-long holiday package that would excite any international tourist who wishes to visit Nigeria.

Though the carnival suffered initial criticism by Christian and Islamic leaders who condemned the idea of a carnival and asked organizers to discontinue it, saying that it would be a showcase of the immoral and would be no different from the 1977 Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), which many have said is largely responsible for Nigeriaโ€™s economic problems, the carnival is gradually becoming a household name even among those that were against it from the beginning.

Till this moment, the carnival management still continues to assure Nigerians that the event remains purely a tradition-driven project, would involve no idolatry, and wouldnโ€™t be another version of the famed sexy carnivals, or any others known across the world for that matter.

While so far the marketing of Abuja carnival cannot be said to have really taken off, the management of the 2010 Management Committee, however, is not shying away from any attempt at promoting it through the right channels. It has already been placed two major online travel and tourism websites – www.www.eturbonews.com and www.travelafricanews.com , respectively.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar Mohammed, who is also the chairman of the 2010 Abuja Carnival Management Committee, must use all government apparatus and institutions to market and promote the carnival.

Agencies like the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), established to market and promote all of Nigeriaโ€™s tourism potentials within and internationally, must be seen to be doing so.

So far, what has been playing out suggests otherwise.

In view of the seemingly unwillingness of the NTDC to market the carnival, the onus is, however, on the ministry to make provision in the carnivalโ€™s subsequent budgets to enable those in charge forthwith to take up the challenges of carrying out the promotion and effective marketing of Nigeriaโ€™s nascent tourism product locally and internally.

Why Abuja Carnival remains the only viable tourism product for Nigeria

NIGERIA (eTN) – The first edition of the Abuja Carnival was held in 2005, and many have continued to relive the dazzling displays in their minds.ย Abuja residents and people across the country can be

NIGERIA (eTN) – The first edition of the Abuja Carnival was held in 2005, and many have continued to relive the dazzling displays in their minds.ย Abuja residents and people across the country can be heard discussing the carnival very passionately because of its yearly unique sights and sounds. ย 

Before Abuja Carnival, it is nearly impossible to find Nigerians appreciating any bit of their cultural heritage that gains national acceptability. Like many writers have noted in the past, custom in Nigeria has always competed with religion in the peopleโ€™s minds, and, therefore, the current of Abuja Carnival ran deep, because it got most Nigerians talking and the international visitors couldnโ€™t believe that there could be that much of a spectacle in a country perpetually painted abroad as being so black.

The carnival, an assemblage of contingents from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) converged on a location to make separate statements in tradition and lifestyle, the least being that one would get a snapshot of a country that has shied from asserting its native endowments on the worldโ€™s consciousness for too long.

With the carnivalโ€™s modest successful taking place during the past five editions, this yearโ€™s edition will not be different, offering the usual, but in an upgraded manner. It will include durbar, masquerades, command performances, and a boat regatta procession that helped practitioners to overcome the hurdle of identifying the right tourism product for Nigeria.

The entire tourism and arts communities are in agreement that the country has finally realized that the best it can offer the world is cultural tourism. Unfortunately, the ineptitude of those responsible for such a long time means the promotion and marketing of Nigeria has not taken place.

Despite the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and National Orientation’s good intention of believing that the carnival and the host city, Abuja, would, with every edition, be a sort of “window” for all the states to show, as well as display their tourism potentials, not many so far have taken the platform provided by the carnival.

In ensuring that the aforementioned is achieved, the 2010 Abuja Carnival management committee has opted for a bigger space to enable the states exhibits to come the carnival proper next month, moving away from the traditional Arts and Crafts village, where participating states sell souvenirs and memorabilia, such as raffia, brass, adire, leatherworks, woodcarvings, beads and other handicrafts.

Many travel and tourism analysts are still quite surprised that a product, rich in content and with several unique features, Abuja Carnival still remains a hard sell.ย  Today, Abuja Carnival Durbar parades the largest number of horses, elegantly decorated with costumes, that cannot be easily picked up in the market.

Apart from admiring the dexterity of the horsemen, spinning the swords and spears in their hands every now and then, experts also say that the value of silver jewellery, draped on each horse, comes close to $10,000.

With northern states bringing thousands of horses for Abuja carnival, Benue State parading its world famous and exceptional Kwag-hir puppetry, while the southern states flaunting their aquatic prowess, packaged alongside some notable historical discoveries, such as NOK sculpture and the Sukur World Heritage Site – enough products for a quality week-long holiday package, that would excite any international tourist who wish to visit Nigeria.

The carnival has suffered initial criticism by Christian and Islamic leaders, who condemned the idea of a carnival and asked organizers to discontinue it, saying that it would be a showcase of the immorality. The critics also said that the carnival was no different from the 1977 Festival of Arts and Culture [FESTAC], which many have said is largely responsible for Nigeriaโ€™s economic problems. But now the carnival is gradually becoming a household name, even among those that were against it from the beginning.

Till this moment, the carnival management still continues to assure Nigerians that the event remains purely a tradition-driven project, would involve no idolatry and would not be another version of the famed sexy carnivals across the world.ย 

So far, while the marketing of Abuja carnival has not really taken off, the officials of the 2010 Management Committee are not shying away from any attempt of promoting it through the right channels. It has already placed promotional information on two major online travel and tourism websites – www.etrubonews.com and www.travelafricanews.com , respectively.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Sadiq Abubakar Mohammed, who is also the chairman of the 2010 Abuja Carnival Management Committee must use all government apparatus and institutions to market and promote the carnival.

Agencies like the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation [NTDC], established to market and promote all of Nigeriaโ€™s tourism potentials within and internationally, must be seen to be doing so.

So far, what has been playing out suggests otherwise.

In view of the seemingly unwillingness of the NTDC to market the carnival, the onus is on the ministry to make provision in the carnivalโ€™s subsequent budgets to enable those in-charge to take up the challenges of carrying out the promotion and effective marketing of this Nigeriaโ€™sย  nascent tourism product locally and internally.

About the author

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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