Abuja carnival: How
not to sustain a dream
By Momoh, Abuja
Saturday, December 1, 2007
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Photo: Sun
News Publishing |
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There is no doubt that the just concluded Abuja carnival
fell short of expectations and standards of the last two editions.
It however, signifies an end to the dream of reviving our
culture and may go the way of other meaningful bridge-building
and developmental projects initiated by Nigerian government.
I thought that Nigeria is a country where security reports
are daily used to scuttle or advance the collective or individual
aspirations. It was therefore, surprising that the federal
government approved the hosting of this year’s edition
of Abuja carnival when facts on ground revealed poor preparations,
marketing and promotion . The failure of this edition should
be laid squarely at the feet of the Tourism Minister, Prince
Kayode Tokunbo.
The Minister, in exercising his ministerial powers had dissolved
a committee headed by Olusegun Runsewe. Poorly timed, the
dissolution sent strong signals to Nigerian business community-sponsors
of the last two editions, that this government is not tourism-
driven, hence, the poor support base given to the event this
year. Even participating states, as at October, were confused
by these signals from the ministry .
Allegedly driven by Minister Kayode, Ahmed Yerima, the pointsman
for this edition went as far as removing the carnival logo,
changed thestructures such as the carnival road show which
should have the event a lot more participatory. Stake holders,
such as hoteliers and other service providers were not carried
along. Even though, attempts were made to correct these lapses
but all failed.
It was therefore, not surprising that when the event took
off in Abuja, both Nigerians and foreigners alike shunned
the event. Apart from hoteliers in Abuja who counted their
losses, the cab operators and young enterprising Nigerians
who had always benefited from the event, bemoaned the failure
of the organizers to hold a successful show or even, improve
on last year’s edition
The rush to invite other West African nations was commendable
though but the essence of it all, which was to showcase the
best of Nigerian culture to the outside world was marred by
the huge presence of area boys (Almajiris) who invaded all
the venues unlike the past two editions which witnessed heavy
presence of security agencies that ensured orderliness, protected
lives and properties.
Typical of failures of any project, organizers are claiming
that lack of funds was mainly responsible for the poor show,
instead of owning up to their complete lack of experience
in managing a carnival of such magnitude. It is sad that Kayode
Tokunbo is blaming the N288million allegedly budgeted for
the event as major reason for poor execution, instead of providing
truthful insight on why his new committee could not raise
above the N865 million sponsorship value for the carnival
last year.
Before this new found excuse, the Minister had bragged to
the media at home and abroad, that he would execute the best
carnival ever, much more richer and more enduring than the
2006 award winning carnival. As the event wound up in Abuja
last weekend, it downed on all including Prince Kayode Tokunbo,
that failure is an orphan, as all deserted him and Nigerians
are asking questions.
There is no doubt that Nigeria has messed up, once again,
a key vehicle of national integration and economic empowerment.
The dismantling of strategic economic and social developmental
structures are a major past time for Nigerian leaders who
see nothing good in what their predecessors had left behind.
The execution of Abuja carnival this year is not the best
way to sustain government policy and vision. Even though,
the Minister and his cronies did not like the Runsewe -led
committee, the rush to disband the committee four months before
the event was ill advised.
As much as I hold that Runsewe and his committee are not indispensable,
I equally submit that they should have been allowed to finish
what they started before the Minister brought in his own team.
It is hoped that this will be the last time we put up a shoddy
event so that those who are saddled with the responsibility
of organizing it will have no basis to pass bulk. Those athe
helm of affairs in the organization must accept responsibility
for the failure, if it ever occurs again. But we pray that
"Never again" will it happen. President Yar’Adua
must equally educate his Ministers on the need to execute
successfully, key government projects.
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