Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State spoke with journalists on a number of issues about the Carnival Calabar after the conclusion of the 2013 edition at the U.J. Esuene Stadium. Excerpts:
HOW are you marketing the carnival internationally and is there a partnership with international hotel chains so there can be enough accommodation for people during the festival?
We’ve been at this long enough to understand and appreciate that when you have a good product, people will come. What we are trying to do now is to produce an excellent product. We think that we have enough expatriates in Nigeria that want to enjoy this experience. We think that we have enough West Africans that want to enjoy this experience and we have more than enough Nigerians that want to enjoy this experience and if you can get your own people to appreciate it, the rest of the world will follow suit. That’s basically why we think our emphasis should just not be on the domestic market but on the regional market in terms of attendance.
We’ve been at this long enough to understand and appreciate that when you have a good product, people will come. What we are trying to do now is to produce an excellent product. We think that we have enough expatriates in Nigeria that want to enjoy this experience. We think that we have enough West Africans that want to enjoy this experience and we have more than enough Nigerians that want to enjoy this experience and if you can get your own people to appreciate it, the rest of the world will follow suit. That’s basically why we think our emphasis should just not be on the domestic market but on the regional market in terms of attendance.
On the second question, the key thing for us is that we are trying to build not just a one month event calendar; we want to introduce a number of things into our calendar. We have a Jazz Festival, of course you are familiar with the mountain race and we are trying to introduce one or two other events into our calendar. But beyond what we are introducing into the calendar, we also are focussed on our domestic market. We know that one of the things that drive traffic in Nigeria is workshops, conferences and meetings.
Today, Calabar is the third largest destination after Abuja and Lagos. But we want to overtake Abuja very quickly once our international conference centre is completed. With the international conference centre comes two brand new hotels. One is a resort hotel and one is a four-star business hotel. We think that if we can complete that and a few other things that we are doing; this now becomes a destination.
We observed that a lot of the costumes are still being built by foreigners, are you working towards a time when that would be a local thing?
Most of the costumes, with all due respect are built locally. Most are made in Nigeria, a few bands have technical advisers but most of the costumes are made in Calabar and we are excited about that. There is a lot of creativity; there is a lot of industry. Even for the state, our internally generated revenue is going up; it almost doubles in December but for us it’s also provides amazing employment opportunities. We are now having things like theatre academies training kids, the bands are registered companies; they are not showpieces and that’s where we want to carry this carnival to.
We observed that a lot of the costumes are still being built by foreigners, are you working towards a time when that would be a local thing?
Most of the costumes, with all due respect are built locally. Most are made in Nigeria, a few bands have technical advisers but most of the costumes are made in Calabar and we are excited about that. There is a lot of creativity; there is a lot of industry. Even for the state, our internally generated revenue is going up; it almost doubles in December but for us it’s also provides amazing employment opportunities. We are now having things like theatre academies training kids, the bands are registered companies; they are not showpieces and that’s where we want to carry this carnival to.
One day you will not need to interview the governor about the carnival. It would just be that the bands have taken ownership. We believe in perpetuity and that’s what we want to achieve.
So, you will find a lot more sponsorship coming because of the value of the product. We try to package this product; to create value for it. We don’t joke with the brand; we don’t joke with what this represents for us in Cross River. It was broadcast throughout Africa today and the calls I have received are very exciting and appreciative. Some people watching it for the first time can’t believe it; they can’t believe this production. It’s an amazing production, with all due respect. These people work hard all year round. By next month, we will have our post mortem meeting and from our post mortem meeting, we start planning for 2014. That’s why others can’t compete [with us] because of what goes into it.
What does the Seal Team uniform you, the First Lady and some others are wearing signify?
What we tried to do with it is that we would like everybody to own it; it’s not a class thing. Everybody wants to play the carnival. I’m not in a band because I opted not to be in one lest it seems that the Governor is in one band and anytime that band wins it becomes did the band do well or the band won because the Governor is in it? I want to be an ambassador for all the bands and I think that’s very important. We dress up because it’s carnival.
What happens to all the costumes after the carnival?
What we are trying to do now is create a carnival village and it’s on the same side as the convention centre. We are trying to build a tourism circuit around there. The carnival village will have a massive carnival museum where we are going to have some of these outstanding winning costumes. The carnival village will also have performances so you don’t need to wait until December to come to Calabar. You can go there and have a mini show two or three times in a week with all the five bands. All the five bands are going to hold their own workshops; you can go there as a tourist and see how carnival is made. We want to build a carnival museum that will house the most outstanding costumes, the most outstanding presentations and videos so while you are touring the museum, you will be able to experience the carnival.
What does the Seal Team uniform you, the First Lady and some others are wearing signify?
What we tried to do with it is that we would like everybody to own it; it’s not a class thing. Everybody wants to play the carnival. I’m not in a band because I opted not to be in one lest it seems that the Governor is in one band and anytime that band wins it becomes did the band do well or the band won because the Governor is in it? I want to be an ambassador for all the bands and I think that’s very important. We dress up because it’s carnival.
What happens to all the costumes after the carnival?
What we are trying to do now is create a carnival village and it’s on the same side as the convention centre. We are trying to build a tourism circuit around there. The carnival village will have a massive carnival museum where we are going to have some of these outstanding winning costumes. The carnival village will also have performances so you don’t need to wait until December to come to Calabar. You can go there and have a mini show two or three times in a week with all the five bands. All the five bands are going to hold their own workshops; you can go there as a tourist and see how carnival is made. We want to build a carnival museum that will house the most outstanding costumes, the most outstanding presentations and videos so while you are touring the museum, you will be able to experience the carnival.
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