Carnival of Stories to showcase Nigeria’s Cultural Heritage in Abuja

A new cultural festival, Carnival of Stories, will showcase Nigeria’s diverse cultural heritage through architecture, history, art and traditional practices in Abuja from December 1 to December 5, 2026.

The festival, organised by JT Agency, is themed, “This Is Nigeria: Chapter By Chapter” and will feature a hand-built clay city designed to provide visitors with an immersive experience of Nigeria’s cultural heritage.

The organisers said the clay city was inspired by the use of earth as a traditional building material across different parts of Nigeria.

They said the festival would explore the relevance of traditional building methods and cultural practices to contemporary society, particularly amid growing environmental concerns in the construction sector.

The experience will begin at the Zaure, a traditional space associated with hospitality and welcome, and lead visitors through cultural environments, including the Grove of Ancestors, Durbar Court and Court of Masks.

It will culminate in Impluvium, a space designed for reflection and stillness.

The organisers said the festival would also address the growing distance between younger Nigerians and traditional practices, as well as limited opportunities for people to experience cultures outside their communities.

Chief Executive Officer, JT Agency, Executive Producer and Lead Curator of the festival, said the initiative was designed to present Nigerian stories beyond conventional forms.

“With JT Agency, we have never been interested in simply telling Nigerian stories in the conventional way. We keep asking: what else can this story become? How else can it be told?” he said.

Omoboriowo said the festival would use the clay city to make Nigerian stories physical and immersive, giving visitors a different way of experiencing the country’s heritage.

They said visitors would engage with experiences covering history, food, spirituality, art and architecture during the five-day festival.

The experiences would also include cultural showcases led by custodians and practitioners associated with the traditions represented in the clay city.

Nduwhite Ndubuisi Ahanonu, Co-Lead Curator of the festival and Founder of the International Institute for Creative Development (IICD), said the festival was rooted in the idea of shared cultural memory.

“Every Nigerian carries a story they did not write alone, handed down at a doorway, sung over a drum, told under the moonlight,” Ahanonu said.

He said the festival would bring together inherited narratives in a shared environment, adding that it was intended to encourage Nigerians to reconnect with their cultural heritage.

Creative Director and Project Lead of the festival, Adeorike Aderibigbe, said Nigerian creativity was reflected in the country’s craftsmanship, visual arts and cultural expressions.

Aderibigbe said the festival would provide a platform for showcasing the diversity of Nigerian cultural expressions in one space.

“We are not one story told one way; we are hundreds of expressions of the same spirit,” she said.

She noted that the festival was designed to demonstrate how Nigeria’s cultural diversity could be presented as an important part of its national identity.