Amid preparations by Lagos State Government to host the 2022 edition of National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), the Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe has promised participants a thrilling experience of 37 wonders of Nigeria.
NAFEST is regarded as Nigeria’s biggest cultural export and tourism fair and a programme that defines the values and strengths that unifies Nigerians despite the diversities.
From Kaduna to Rivers, Edo to Plateau and Ekiti, NAFEST runs on the gasoline of Nigeria’ s banquet of festivals, dances, indigenous culinary expressions, history, artifacts, tongues and humongous display of infinite energy and patriotism which propels endless research about the richness and unbelievable attitudes of the people.
Indeed, these are things that tend to lubricate the nation’s socioeconomic and political dislocations; and Nigeria’s commercial nerve, Lagos, is set to make the 2022 edition a truly grand one.
Each festival theme births the prosperity and profiles of various sub-cultures and tradition, highlighting the intrinsic values and attractive inclusiveness, even as it opens new vistas to foster unity, love and connectivity.
Ahead of this year’s NAFEST, Otunba Segun Runsewe, Nigeria’s chief culture officer, sets the tone for the outings, powering evangelical cultural awareness like he has done in the last six years, but this year he is pushing to an extent that Nigeria’s cultural vehicle has never traversed before.
His cultural message centres on the change narratives and the power to fuse our faith and trust in our way of life. At each dinning table of cultural gastronomy, the massive display of our food culture, from soups to snacks, beverages and peacocks of “swallows” endemic to each geopolitical zones, unveils an amazing hospitality wonder.
According to Runsewe, NAFEST avails a platform to understand the uniqueness and richness of Nigerian cultural advantage for students and other observers of the nation’s evolving cultural renaissance.
Through NAFEST, he believes Nigerians can admit and appreciate the fact that beyond the country’s festivals, Nigeria has a new song on natural and cultural resources as well as a need for environmental conservation.
“I want to showcase beyond our dances and food culture, the 37 wonders of Nigeria and there no better place to do so than at EKO NAFEST, ” Runsewe says.
Last week in Lagos, after a robust conversation with the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on EKO NAFEST, Runsewe made the point known even as he stressed that Lagos must strategically reposition its socioeconomic reach and acceptability as Africa’s destination for commerce, tourism and trade through NAFEST.
On his part, Governor Sanwo-Olu promised to be a veritable partner and champion of the “new Lagos” infrastructure to deliver the gains of NAFEST developmental template, raving up community to community development which has endeared him to indigenes, residents and foreigners.
He, however, noted that the ongoing Lagos rail lines, community theatres halls, road renewals and connectivities, and mapping of water transportation routes, will most likely be ready for use ahead of the unveiling of EKO NAFEST in November.
Meanwhile, upbeat about a new approach to arts and culture event, Runsewe further assures of digging up buried historical, traditional and cultural information about Lagos. He opined that this will help power new tourism traffic, showcase the city’s culture, night life, hospitality, commerce and the wonders of Lagos and the entirety of Nigeria, all in one full cultural plate on Governor Sanwo-Olu’s ‘dinning’ table.
As Runsewe says, EKO NAFEST will be different and his enthusiasm and the success in previous editions indicate that he can be trusted to keep his words and power his dreams for greater opportunities for Nigerian culture tourism rebirth and rebranding through the 2022 edition. So, get ready! Let us prepare for EKO NAFEST!!! Don’t wait to be told the amazing stories from the event when you can attend it yourself.