It was an evening of fun at the Freedom Park, Lagos Island, on Tuesday, as the Lagos State ministry of Arts, Culture and Tourism launched the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ yesterday in an atmosphere prettified with comedy by the event’s anchor man, Gbenga Adeyinka, 1st and musical trailers by notable Nigerian music stars that stormed the capacity filled venue.
The chief host and Lagos State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Folorunso Folarin Coker, assisted by his counterpart in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde led other government officials to the venue.
In his opening remarks, Lagos State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Folorunso Folarin Coker noted that “One Lagos fiesta is the baby of the ‘Lagos countdown’ which has ran for three years now and that “it is our second brand.” Mr. Coker told the gathering of fun lovers who came from all parts of Lagos State that “One Lagos fiesta will run throughout the year. It will support local governments, it will support culture, it will support arts from January to December. When it gets to December, we will switch to countdown; to cross over from one year to the next year. So, one Lagos fiesta is designed to support you, especially those who are strong in arts and culture in Lagos State.
“There is a major difference between OLF (One Lagos Fiesta) and Lagos Countdown. Lagos Countdown, he said “used to occur just at the bar beach.” With the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ innovation, the Akinwumi Ambode government, he added “decided to decentralize it and take it to every locality, take it to the communities, make everybody feel a part of the crossover ceremony. Therefore, countdown is going to occur in Badagry, Ikorodu, Epe, Agege and the Bar beach simultaneously. Now, if you are in Badagry and they say, ‘all the people from Badagry raise up your hands’, you will hear a very big roar, because countdown is now in Badagry, same thing in Epe, same thing in Ikorodu, Agege and the Bar beach.” The five day fiesta commences from the 27th of December, and run through 31st of December.”
While the first 4 days start at 12 noon and end by midnight, the 5th day which is the grand finale on 31st of December runs till day break, as he puts it, “nobody goes to sleep on the crossover night.”
On what will be offered to the public at the five centres, Mr. Folarin Coker disclosed that “we will have theatre, dance, music, food, comedy, drinks, children’s’ corner, DJs and that 50 highly rated Nigerian musical acts will be going from one location to the other for the last 5 days of the year.
Aside the fun and recreation that the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ will offer Lagosians, the event will also provide economic gains as it will provide an opportunity for people to get involved in petty trading and provision of services in all the venues. “Local governments are going to engage vendors who will sell foods, drinks, pepper soup and other consumables,
Mr. Folarin Coker said with the ‘One Lagos Fiesta’ Lagos is set to become the entertainment capital of Africa since it’s an all-inclusive party for its 20million population and will be the largest fun party in sub-sahara Africa.
What GLO said about ‘One Lagos Fiesta’
First of all we bring you season’s greetings from the entire organization and most of all, from our chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga jnr. We feel very excited, partnering with Lagos State, particularly on the One Lagos Fiesta. We have been in the last 17 weeks, across the entire nation; we have been involved in a musical event called Slide N Bounce, the comedy show called Lafta Fest, and even tomorrow, we are having the grang finale of our ‘Dance with Peter’. Now speaking of engagement, One Lagos Fiesta indeed offers the opportunity to connect with the subscribers here in Lagos. The 20 million possibilities are limitless. We are proud to connect with these people. We always want to be a part of things like this. We want to thank the honorable commissioner for giving us a platform and opportunity to do this. Yes, we will be in Ikorodu, Badagry, Epe, Ikeja, Agege, and we will even be at the Bar beach. We feel very proud and distinguished to part of this initiative. We will have very exciting initiatives for the youth segments, mass markets. We will bring some of our ambassadors. We encourage you to come and take a look at our stand and see what we are capable of. To cut the long story short Ladies and gentlemen, we truly believe that Lagos state is the Centre of excellence and we in Globacom, are working to confirm that indeed, the possibilities of this partnership are unlimited. Thank you very much.
