Calabar Carnival, also known as “Africa’s Biggest Street Party” or the “Pride of Nigeria“, is an annual carnival held in Cross River State, Nigeria The carnival holds every December and was declared by the governor Mr. Donald Duke as an activity to mark Christmas celebration yearly. He said his vision for creating the festival was to make Cross-River a home of tourism and hospitality in Nigeria and Africa. The quality of the festival has grown over the years making it Nigeria’s biggest carnival and an internationally recognized festival. It used to be a month-long event that begins on the 1st of December until Benedict Ayade reduced it to two weeks when he was elected. During the 2017 carnival, Governor Ayade said in his speech that the carnival is to showcase Africa as the richest continent and a blessed place where the young ones should be proud to belong. The carnival has always been entertaining and colorful as different competitions take place and huge cash prizes are won. Calabar which is also known by the name Canann City, is a city in south-eastern Nigeria. Calabar is actually the capital city of Cross River State. Calabar sits adjacent to the Calabar and Great Kwa Rivers as well as the creeks of the Cross River.
History
The Calabar Carnival started in 2004 by Governor Donald Duke of Cross River, as a way to promote tourism and improve the local economy According to Osima-Dokubo, “the carnival aimed to include more aspects of local heritage and culture and at the same time strengthen the capacity of the locals to participate in an economically beneficial way.”
Programmes
The programme is drafted each year by the committee in charge of tourism and cultural activities and new initiatives are introduced with different topics chosen to drive the carnival. In December 2009, the Carnival Committee organized “Carnival Cup 2009”, a football competition among the five competing carnival bands – Seagull, Passion 4, Masta Blasta, Bayside and Freedom. These bands are distinguished by their colors; The Seagull is the Red band and is known as the most stylish and coordinated band, Passion 4 is the Green band and is known as the most successful band, Masta Blasta is the orange and largest band, Bayside is the Blue band, and Freedom is the Yellow band.The Festival also includes music performance from both local and international artists, the annual Calabar Carnival, Boat regatta, Fashion shows (introduced in 2016), Beauty pageant (Miss Africa introduced in 2016) Christmas Village, traditional dances and the annual Ekpe Festival that brings in thousands of tourists.)
Other activities that make up this carnival include essay writing competitions, which involves both secondary school and tertiary students. These competitions are designed to promote reading culture among the youths of the State and inculcate in them the carnival culture.
Participants
The event hosts local and international musicians, actors and actresses, politicians and other notable men and women. Some of the entertainers who have attended the carnival include Lucky Dube, Akon, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy, Nelly, Kirk Franklin. The 2013 Calabar Carnival was focused on Nigerian artists.
