LAGOS STATE CARNIVAL IN RETROSPECT (show your color)

The whole of Lagos was at a standstill as the ever green Lagos carnival held at the prestigious Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos. Lagos state Carnival was a celebration of the traditional heritage of the people as over 90,000 pieces of costumes were on display. The costumes were all made by the Lagos State Skill Acquisition Centre whose main aim is empowering people.

The beauty in the culture of the people was visible throughout the celebration. The advent of carnivals dates back to hundreds of years ago when the followers of the Roman catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, ‘carnevale’-which means “to put away the meat”. The event ground was filled with people, with the aim of being a part of the celebration.

Though, traffic congestion was characteristic of the day as people could not get into the venue without encountering some difficulties, this did not reduce the glamour that was associated with the event. Also, lack of a theme for the carnival itself was an impediment to the event as people paraded in costumes not linked to any visible theme.
Nevertheless, the Lagos State carnival signifies the emergence of Lagos in the international tourism calendar.

In the years to come we hope that the Carnival offers a dynamic tool for self-expression and exploration, a tool to seek out our roots, a tool to develop new forms of looking at the world, its culture, and finally, a tool to unite the world, to discover what we all have in common, and to celebrate what makes us different. The power and creativity that underlies all these can transform lives.

In some other nations, their revenue comes from tourism. As this event continues, we will find out that tourism brings in a large chunk of revenue and it will help to boost the economy of the state and Nigeria as a country. It is possible to approach the height that the “Notting Hill carnival” in United Kingdom has. Since Lagos state has what it takes to achieve that height, the money, the exposure and the capacity, it is therefore expected that the subsequent events will be better organized than the previous ones.

WORDS BY: BABALOLA OLAITAN E.
PHOTOS: AROWOLO N. OLA