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A kaleidoscopic display of Benin culture and royalty will be a feature of this year’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) to be hosted by Edo State. This was the pledge given by Governor Godwin Obaseki to Otunba Segun Runsewe, the Director-General of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), recently at the Government House in Benin City, Edo State capital.
Speaking at the pre-NAFEST 2019 engagement meeting, Governor Obaseki noted that Edo being the cultural nerve centre of Nigeria will bring its spectrum of cultural experience to embellish the resurgent NAFEST that has gained recognition as the true face of Nigeria cultural festival and unity.
The 2018 edition of NAFEST in Port Harcourt, Rivers State was lauded for its refreshing cultural extravaganza. Obaseki, who expressed delight that Edo State under his watch is honoured to fly the cultural flag of the nation at this point in the history of Nigeria, promised to sustain the momentum, hence, his assurance that the state will enrich the cultural content of the 2019 NAFEST with robust presence of Benin royalty and culture as never seen anywhere before now.
Commending the NCAC Director-General for his strategic revamping of the national festival and transforming a once-moribund festival into a refreshing iconic gathering of the best of Nigeria culture, less than two years in office, Obaseki said:
“With what you have done with NAFEST, some of us are reassured that Nigeria can rebound in all aspects of our national life and we are proud to have you at the centre as a key partner to take Nigeria out of the woods to the Promised Land.”
To drive the 2019 edition of the festival slated for October, the governor gave the state’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Osazee Osemwingie-Ero, a carte blanche to form a Local Organising Committee (LOC) to ensure stress-free organization of the festival and also forward to his office detailed cost inputs.
Runsewe in his address thumbed up the giant strides and initiatives of the Governor Obaseki, especially for being the first in Nigeria to introduce cultural clubs in Edo public schools and also for the introduction of culture/tourism desk at Benin Airport as a process of reviving and sustaining Edo culture in the minds of the people and Nigerians at large.
He further disclosed that a NAFEST national organising committee would be announced soon to enable the commission to organize another record-breaking outing in Benin.
NAFEST EDO 2019 will be the third edition of the festival since Runsewe took charge at NCAC. Previous editions, Kaduna and Rivers in 2017 and 2018 respectively, were rated high.
Runsewe (also President, World Craft Council, Africa Region) since his appointment as NCAC DG in 2017, has brought innovation and dynamism to the once agency vis-a-vis the festival and its flagship arts and craft exhibition, now known as INAC. Notable intervention on content––such as cultural golf competition, empowerment and skill acquisition, health outreach, children cultural dance and competition––and special outing with the state governor’s wife are features outlined for the October outing in Edo.
