Revamping Calabar Carnival

 Charles Ajunwa 

As part of his vision and commitment to improve the concepts and policies of government, Cross River State Governor, Prince Bassey Edet Otu, has approved a 13-man committee to review and provide a postmortem on Carnival Calabar and the Annual Festival Concept after 20 years of hosting. 

The review is aimed at improving and refreshing the product in line with global trends in tourism product development and repackaging. 

The committee which has two weeks to submit its report to Governor Otu, has the following as terms of reference: review the past 20 years to identify the high points and the low points; identify the success factors of the last 20 years; restructure the bands as a creative entity; and explore organic ways of improving the carnival by making it our cultural expression.

Other terms of reference include, initiate the establishment of a carnival museum for the preservation of carnival culture; advise on the improvement of regulations and organisation to align with world best practices; harness all marketing opportunities to improve carnival funding; device means of placing Carnival Calabar’s presence on the international roadmap; suggest a roadmap for the next 20 years to guide the operators; and engage relevant stakeholders in arriving at its recommendations. 

The 13-man committee members is Chaired by Chief Edem Duke while Onari Duke, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, Senator Gershom Bassey, Hon. Chris Agibe and Dr. Lyam Ugot are members. 

Other members are Hon. Eric Anderson, Sir Gabe Onah, Mr. Ededem Ani, AG, Pastor Johnnie Akpanke, Amb. Ikechi Uko, Prof. Esekong Andrew Essien, while Prof. A. Owan-Eno serves as Secretary.