Judex Okoro, Calabar
Vice President of Liberia, Jewel Howard Taylor, says this year’s Carnival Calabar will help restore Africa’s humanity as well as it’s unique values.
Jewel Taylor, who stayed this in Calabar while rounding off the third and final dry run, said the carnival speaks of an issue that is of concern to the world which is the question of humanity
She said: “Where is our humanity when we allow young men and women to be taken into slavery, shuttled across the Sahara
“Where is our humanity when people live below a dollar a day, families cannot have food and a small percentage of our population holds 90% of the world’s wealth.
“We must return to our humanity and turn away from the path that will lead to annihilation”, she said.
According to her, humanity exists in the animal kingdom and emphasised that this year’s festival will help in restoring the continents humanity.
“The carnival this year will showcase some of those ills, show how we came as a human race and put our humanity back in terms of love.
“Let’s bring back the Humanity that is in the African customs and values so that our people can laugh again”, she said.
The Liberian Vice President declared the dry run open alongside the state governor Professor Ben Ayade and the Speaker of the state Assembly, Eteng Williams.
Speaking also at the event, the Cross River State Governor, Sir Ben Ayade, said Cross River is using Carnival Calabar platforms to draw global attention on the theme of the 2019 edition of the carnival ,”Humanity.”
 
“If  you imbue humanity in everything you do be  it politics, business and others,  you will be a better person , society will be a better place and no one will need unnecessary protections as will have today  among the elites and the well to do in the society ,afterall we are all Human,that the message we are passing from Cross River today.
 
“Unlike the way it is today, human being are becoming more animalistic in our dealings and animals are becoming more humans. Increasingly,  it’s obvious that man has degenerated to an extreme level of atamism  and premitimism,” he said.
 
The different bands were dressed in their colourful cost