AU TARGETS FOUR CITIES TO HOST AFRIMA 3.0 IN NIGERIA

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of
the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) have earmarked four cities in
Nigeria to host the third edition of the All Africa Music Awards,
(AFRIMA) which holds in November 2016.
This was disclosed at just concluded 27th AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on
July 17, 2016.
The four cities targeted as potential hosts for the continental awards
ceremony are: Calabar (Cross River State), Lagos (Lagos State), Port
Harcourt (Rivers State) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom State),
The AU’s interest emanated from the visions of these four states in
promoting and preserving Africa’s rich culture while also inspiring
African youths.
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union Commission, Dr
Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko said, “The main purpose of the Host City
partnership is to showcase the tourism and economic potential of one of
the great cities in Africa and promote its strengths to global audience
which in turn adds to the GDP of the state and the continent at large.”
While urging the considered cities to passionately vie for hosting
privileges, the AUC official pointed out the immense advantages for the
host city which include ‘long term investment and job creation; adoption
of new benchmarks for city development; increased civic pride and
community empowerment; increased tourism and publicity’.
“Ultimately, there is an opportunity to tap into the millions of
participants and followers of the booming African music,” said Dr.
Kaloko.
Also, AFRIMA Director of Sponsorship/Communication, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi,
explained that these four states are capable of creating global brand
equity for Africa.
She said, “The host city will be one that is willing to create value and
deep brand equity not only for Nigerians but Africans. It must have the
most motivation to host AFRIMA in line with its values; have the
strongest vision in tourism, culture and entertainment; have the most
adequate facilities, surrounding infrastructure, security and tourist
attraction to host the event and should have hosted successful events in
the past that attracted both national and or global audiences.”
AFRIMA in partnership with the AUC opened submission of entries for this
year’s edition of the continental awards on Monday, May 30, 2016.
Music professionals of African origin including artistes, songwriters,
video directors, music/entertainment journalists and music producers
resident on the continent or abroad are eligible to enter in any of the
33 award categories and entry submission closes on Saturday, July 30,
2016. Works to be submitted must be produced in the year under
review—May 20, 2015 to July 30, 2016.
Format of submission: Detailed information about eligibility and format
of submission is available on www.afrima.org.