| Cultural fes
•Day school kids showed off their heritage
By MADUABUCHI KALU
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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All contestants, dressed in their traditional atire
at the Begreat all Nigeria Schools cutural festival.
• PHOTO: Sun News Publishing
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It was a carnival of sort recently at the premises of the
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 10, Yaba, Lagos
as pupils of nursery, primary and secondary schools participated
in the fourth edition of the cultural festival for schools,
tagged:
‘The Pride of Our Nation’ organised by ‘Begreat
Foundation.’
The festival started in 2005 when it was first staged at God
Dey Cinema and the subsequent ones have been staged at the
NTA Channel 10 premises, Yaba.
The nursery and primary schools that participated in the cultural
festival include: Christy Grace Nursery and Primary, Kings
Cross Nursery and Primary, Reigners Nursery/Primary, Praise
International Schools, Adebo Nursery/Primary, Franpa Nursery/Primary,
Realway Nursery/Primary, Mayra Fon Madona Schools, Golden
Angels.
In the secondary school category, the following schools also
took part in the cultural festival. They include, Victory
Comprehensive College, Madona Comprehensive College, Kings
Cross Model College and Time and Tide international College.
In his opening remarks, the national Coordinator of Begreat
Foundation, Mr. Patrick Machie, welcomed everybody to the
event and thanked them for honouring the invitation despite
their tight schedules.
Mr. Machie said the foundation was borne out of the desire
to stem the tide of near extinction threatening our cultural
heritage.
He said: “Begreat Foundation is not just any other foundation.
This foundation came into existence as a result of the yearning
gap between our youths and our culture.
“We discovered that our youths know little or nothing
about our culture. It is to stem this ugly trend that this
foundation was founded to ensure that our youths are re-orientated
to see the need for them to appreciate our cherished cultural
values.
“We can’t imagine folding our arms and seeing
our culture going into extinction. How can we be called people
without culture? I don’t see the possibility because
I have never seen a people without culture. It is our cherished
cultural values that make us a unique people. Therefore, there
is every need for us to preserve all of our positive cultural
heritage.”
Some of the invited guests include home video producer, Joseph
Johnson, a.k.a Planet, Star actress, Mrs. Christy Okonkwo.
At the commencement of the activities, the representatives
of the schools though young, did not leave anything to chance,
as each school’s representatives tried to out do one
another to enable her emerge winners. In fact, it was a herculean
task for the panel of judges led by Joseph Johnson.
The national coordinator of Begreat Foundation used the occasion
to express his gratitude and that of the entire management
of Begreat Foundation, to all the corporate organisations
that partnered with it in the successful hosting of the edition
of the cultural programme.
Speaking earlier, the Marketing Manager of Cway Nigeria Limited,
Mr. Udeme Ekpo, one of the sponsors of the event, said he
was excited and proud to be a partner in the event. He expressed
gratitude to the organiser for a work well done, promising
to relay the memories of the event to his managing director.
He said: “I must confess that I am excited with what
I have witnessed today. What I have seen surpassed what I
had envisaged before coming to this events.
“I am proud that we are part of this event. Our company,
the Cway Nigeria Limited, shares the dream of the organisers.
The event was rounded off with the award of prizes to winners.
In the beauty pageant, the representative of Mayrafon Schools,
Lagos came first in the primary school category, while the
representatives of Golden Angels Nursery/Primary School, Olodi
Apapa and the representative of Christy Grace Nursery/Primary
School Okota were the 1st and 2nd runners up respectively.
In the secondary school category, the representative of Madona
Schools won the crown, while the representatives of Victory
Comprehensive College, Baracks, Ojo and the representatives
of Time and Tide International School, Iba, Ojo, Lagos were
the 1st and 2nd runners up respectively.
The high point was the presentation of the crowns to the beauty
queens by Mrs. Christy Okonkwo.
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