The week-long bouquet of exciting and highly engaging activities at this year’s Rivers State carnival, CARNIRIV, reaches the climax on Saturday, December 15, with Governor Rotimi Amaechi, leading scores of very important personalities and hundreds of participants in two epic closing events – Garden City Freestyle Parade and World Peace Concert.
The parade was an artistic blend of contemporary cultural procession during which the governor, who is the chief celebrant as well as dignitaries, residents and tourists adorned different kinds of colourful costumes and matched through designated streets within Port Harcourt metropolis.
The Director-General, Rivers State Tourism Development Agency (RSTDA), Dr. Sam Dede, said the morning cultural procession is one of the peak moments of CARNIRIV while the peace concert, a rhythm-filled musical session accompanied by spectacular fireworks, brings the carnival to a grand close in the evening.
The procession through Aba, Ikwerre and Stadium roads, was lit up by eight live bands in a bid to add to the exhilaration which the parade already promised.
The cultural fiesta, which held from December 9 to December 15 in Port Harcourt, features a variety of indigenous and international displays. The Black African Music Festival (BAMFest), which held on Wednesday, December 12, featured Grammy Award-winning reggae star and rapper, Shaggy, and fellow reggae singer, Patra, celebrated Nigerian music acts, Tuface Idibia, and Duncan Mighty. The artistes thrilled the crowd with a memorable performance.
Another main attraction was the Ekere: Rhythm of the Tribes, a display of the rich cultural heritage and glamour of the Rivers people in the 23 local government areas. Each local government area put of a show of glamorous costumes and captivating dance steps.
Speaking about his assessment of this year’s edition of CARNIRIV, Dede expressed satisfaction with the organisation, attendance and active participation of the residents and other stakeholders at every aspect of the fiesta, while assuring them that subsequent editions would be better and bigger than what they have witnessed so far.
He said: “It has really come with challenges, but they are not challenges that were insurmountable. The first important thing that we want to do with the carnival is to impact on the economy of the host community, that is, Rivers State.
“We set out to employ data services company and they have been giving us reports and it has been positive. People are beginning to warm up to the carnival. We invited people to come out and own the carnival and they have really overwhelmed us with their participation. So, it is good thing.
“We are going to make the data available. We had visitors from Trinidad and Tobago, and we had a hectic time getting places for them. The hotels were booked. We really had a hectic plan getting things in place not because we did not plan for all these, but really did not envisage the huge turnout. It has been really enormous. It was overwhelming, but we are coping with it. People out there on the field are looking for accommodation for people. Our website is bursting and the transport system has been really overwhelmed by the number of people. I think that is what the aim of the carnival is about. People must begin to feel the impact of the carnival just they way that we also expect them to come out as spectators or as volunteers. If you look around, you see over 500 volunteers and some of them have volunteered their services for free; some of them we are going to pay. We are really happy about that.”
On this year’s theme, Dede said: “The theme for this year’s carnival is reminiscing our past, consolidating our future. It is not unconnected with the Port Harcourt’s 100 years celebration. I think that after 100 years, you should be able to sit down and look at your past and then seriously assure yourself that the future is going to be bright. So, that is what we’ve sat back to look at. If you recall, we had Professor Wole Soyinka giving us a key- note address at the CARNIRIV colloquium and then we have looked at our culture in the last 100 years. We have looked at our economy. We have looked at the struggle of people in the last 100 years, and I think for sure we are assuring ourselves that the future can only get better.”
Dede said the Amaechi government has a five-year rolling plan for the carnival within which it will be turned into a world class spectacle: “We have a five- year development plan for CARNIRIV and this year’s is the first year of the development plan.That is why we call it a road map for the carnival. The idea is that in the next five years we would have a brand that is recognizable in every part of the world.
“From five bands last year, we have 10 because the existing bands that we have are bursting with application. So, what we have is five new bands, two were created by individuals and we have created another two and one other official band. The membership of these bands is enormous, but for purposes of control and administration, we are trying to restrict each to about 450. In some bands, they have registered over 1000. So, we threw out an invitation to our people and they responded in a way that we are even overwhelmed.”
While the enthusiasm of the people for the carnival is unmistakable, the logistics for the carnival needs to be worked out better in terms of route crowd control and vehicular movement.
One major minus for this year’s carnival was the poor timing. The float left Silverbird Galleria starting very late when the sun was at its brightest. It will be difficult to get the best out of the participants. It is very important for organisers to allow the float to move early.
The freestyle bands would need to improve on the costuming and float decoration.
Overall, it was a showpiece that had the people of River State rocking for one week. This is a testament of peace in the state, a sine qua non for tourism to thrive.
