As part of efforts to reposition the annual Carnival Calabar, Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State has appointed a 13-member review committee to assess and improve the annual festival.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Nsa Gill said to improve concepts and policies of goverment, the governor has approved the committee to review and provide a postmortem on Carnival Calabar and the annual festival concept after 20 years of hosting. The review is aimed at improving and refreshing the product in line with global trends in tourism product development and repackaging.
The members of the committee include Amb. Ikechi Uko, Sen. Florence Ita Giwa, Prof Esekong Andrew Essien, and Prof A. Owan-Eno, who will serve as the committee’s secretary. Others are Sen. Gershom Bassey, Hon. Chris Agibe, Dr. Lyam Ugot, Barr Onari Duke, Hon. Eric Anderson, Sir Gabe Onah, PhD, Barr Ededem Ani (AG), and Pastor Johnnie Akpanke.
Former Minister of Culture, High Chief Edem Duke, will chair the committee, whose key objectives include; reviewing the past: analysing the highlights and low points of the past 20 years to identify success factors and areas for improvement ; restructuring the bands; reforming the creative entities to better align with the state’s cultural expression, among others.
