We are packaging Carnival ‘08 to promote tourism
 

Professor Ahmed Yerima Director General of the National Theatre and Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria

Professor Ahmed Yerima Director General of the National Theatre and Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Professor Ahmed Yerima, who is also the Chairman, Carnival Management Committee of the Abuja Carnival was in Akure, Ondo State, last Tuesday for a sensitisation workshop on this year’s carnival scheduled to hold from November 20 to 23. In this interview with Akintayo Abodunrin, Yerima speaks on preparations for the carnival whose theme is ‘packaging carnival for tourism’. Excerpts:

What’s the reason for this workshop?
We decided to have this workshop because we’ve just had an election. We have new governors, commissioners, permanent secretaries and new directors of culture, and we felt there was a need for us to have a workshop which will sensitize them, and also urge them towards budgeting and preparing for the carnival.

What will be the component of the carnival this year?
It will be the same component as in the past but our emphasis this year is on packaging carnival for tourism. For the past three years, we have celebrated culture and life, and that has been our carnival theme. But what we are looking at this year is that after three years, international interest is being aroused and then the issue of promoting tourism has also arisen. We want carnival and Nigeria to be a tourism centre; we want to use carnival to sell Nigeria because we’ve gotten to a point in which we need to package carnival properly so that it’s not just a celebration, razzmatazz, but that it becomes an article that we can use to sell our culture.

What’s the level of foreign involvement this year. Have countries signified interest in participating?
Yes, countries have signified interest. In fact, on Thursday, I’m having a meeting with the Egyptian Ambassador because Egypt wants to come. Last year, Niger came, Ghana came and this year we may have up to 20 countries.

What’s the extent of both government and private involvement in this forthcoming carnival?
In fact, one of the things that we are telling people during the workshop is that at the carnival committee level, we’ve lifted the ban on seeking for sponsorship. So, we are allowing the private sector to come in and we have asked the states to source for funds from the big companies around them. On the part of my team, we’ve appointed two agents, Zmirage and Verdant Seal who are sourcing for funds for us all over Nigeria and we are hoping that gradually, with the involvement of companies, multinationals, we are beginning to open it up to private sector participation.

You’ve been on the road sensitising people about the carnival, what have been the challenges?
I think the major challenge for Abuja Carnival is funding. We’ve found out that the states are ready to participate but at the state level, they need to be funded properly because once there is competition, there is the determination to excel. And once there is determination to excel, you need money to excel. So, what we’ve decided to do is not only to encourage the state troupes but also to appeal to both the royal fathers and the governors that there is a need for them to assist the state contingents by giving them materials in terms of funds and cultural materials for them to come and shine at the Abuja Carnival because you are not only selling Nigeria, you are selling the state. And when you are selling the state, it becomes very difficult to sell the state with very minimal amount of money.

That’s why we’ve also urged the states to go and source for funds so that, that can complement, not augment, not replace, what the state governors would approve for them. There is also the logistics of getting the artistes to Abuja and their welfare. We’ve urged the states to rehearse their artistes; to pick and select good packaging; to start working on the icons that they would put on their floats because there is also a prize for them. We need to move the carnival forward; we’ve passed the teething stage and nobody would say that after three years, we shouldn’t know what we are doing. This is why we are having this workshop.

Have you been receiving feedbacks from the five zones you’ve visited so far.
Even while we were there, we were receiving feedbacks. We are beginning to realise the need for us to continue follow-ups after the workshops. So once we get back to Abuja, we are going to do letters to the governors and begin to urge and talk. There is going to be a lot of button pressing, handshakes, even prayers are going to be put in motion, so that we would be able to get them to be comfortable enough to come.

FCT also has a major challenge in venues and welfare. And this year, we’ve decided to try and appeal to both Ministers of the FCT to please try and help us especially the Director for Social Welfare; that there is a need for them to pay more attention to the needs of carnival. Carnival is taking place in Abuja and whatever impression participants and tourists would have would be the first impression which is what kind of welcome, what kind of mattress or bed they sleep in; what kind of water; what kind of light would they get to use. These are the basic things that we are begging FCT’s help for. Food and welfare is a major challenge every year because the artistes keep increasing. From 2,500 to 5,000 to 10,000. This year, we are looking at about 15,000 artistes because more states now want to take part in boat regatta. Nasarrawa took part last year and it’s not a riverine state. Kwara has been taking part and I’m sure Kebbi would say they are the Argungu experts so why would people who do not have a major festival on fish and river feature in regatta while they do not. So they might come and say they also want to do.
So, we are expecting that there would be a boost. We’ve gone to the Lamido of Adamawa, we’ve also spoken to some Emirs and they say they are bringing horses. If they are to bring 300 or five hundred horses, that would increase the number of people too because that would be one horse, two people; the handler and the rider. So, we are looking at another 800 people coming in and it mounts up like that. Carnival is lovely because everybody is beginning to share in the spirit of it by enjoying it and having fun. And now that we’ve also brought the Durbar to Saturday so that we will have more time for it, I’m sure this year, it would be more fulfilling.

You recently returned from Brazil, how was ...
Brazil was very good. I didn’t go because we were involved in these sensitization workshops. In fact, when they were in Brazil was when we want to Minna and Kano. It was painful but it was good because it allowed us to reestablish links with our lost brothers in Brazil especially the Yoruba culture. There is a very strong Yoruba culture in Bahia- Salvador and I packaged the show which the National Troupe did. And what we did with the show was to take aspects of the Nigerian culture that had to do with themes that they could recognise, like the Yemoja and the gods in the Yoruba cosmology; Ogun, Osun etc.


Back to Home Page