The African Union Commission ( AUC) has announced Lagos State as the
official Host City of the thir d edition of The All Africa Mu sic Awards.
The announcement ceremony, whi ch took place at Protea Hotel, GRA, Ikeja
in Lagos on Monday August 15, 2016, amidst pomp, was attende d by
officials of the African Union ;members of the international committee of
AFRIMA; AFRIMA 2015 winners; t op government functionaries; s takeholders
in the creative/ entertainment industry in Africa, media exe cutives, and
musical artistes.
Formally declaring Lagos as th e official city to host AFRIMA 2016
edition, the Head of Culture, African Union Commission, Ms. Angela
Martins posited that taking a decision on the Centre of Exce llence was a
herculean task because all the cities targeted were equal to the task in
terms of infrastructure, touri sm potential and richness of c ulture but
Lagos State has an edge in key areas.
Prior to the prestigious occas ion, AU had targeted four citi es as
potential hosts for the contin ental awards ceremony. These c ities were:
Calabar (Cross River State), L agos (Lagos State), Port Harco urt (Rivers
State) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom Stat e).
According to Martins, the Afri can Union was pushing forward its
developmental agenda and polic ies through the AFRIMA platfor m.
“Also, in choosing the host ci ty, we considered factors such as the
willingness to create value an d deep brand equity not only f or Nigerians
but Africans. Also, there was the consideration of which sta te has the
most motivation to host AFRIMA in line with its values; whic h has the
strongest vision in tourism, c ulture and entertainment. Then , the state
must have the most adequate fa cilities, surrounding infrastr ucture,
security and tourist attractio n to host the event and should have hosted
successful events in the past that attracted both national a nd or global
audiences as well as governmen t’s responsiveness. It was dis covered
Lagos possesses all these fact ors and we arrived at our deci sion.”
To give the acceptance speech on behalf of the the Governor of Lagos
state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, w as the Lagos State Commissione r for
Information, Mr. Steve Ayorind e and Special Adviser to the G overnor on
Culture, Mrs. Adebimpe Akinsol a.
In his speech, Governor Akinwu nmi Ambode, expressed delight at emergence
of Lagos State as the official host city, said the state wou ld not only
throw its weight behind All Af rica Music Awards, AFRIMA and partner the
African Union but also provide facilities and infrastructure to make
AFRIMA 2016, tagged AFRIMA 3.0 , a success.
He said, “I understood that th e emergence of the host city w as keenly
contested by four states and t he transparency shown so far i s
impressive. With the third edi tion taking place in Lagos, th is will be
the first time that AFRIMA wil l enjoy the full participation of the
Lagos State Government.”
Explaining why Lagos would sup port AFRIMA, Governor Ambode s aid African
Union’s vision aligns with Lag os State’s. He said, “The reas on why
Lagos State is partnering with AFRIMA should not be far-fetc hed. More
importantly, the vision of AFR IMA is a veritable platform to celebrate
the best of talents in African music industry which aligns w ith the
vision of the African Union to foster peace, unity and devel opment
through cultural expressions a nd creative enterprise.
“Moreover, these values are al so in sync with the Lagos Stat e vision
of being an undeniable enterta inment capital of Africa, as w ell as being
the hub of creative expression s in the continent. The aim is to open up
the state for performing arts to blossom and we are ready to partner
with credible organizations to ensure that Lagos remains the destination
of choice for arts and enterta inment, for artistes and for t hose who
make the business of arts to t hrive.
Highlighting the activities of the 15-month-old Ambode-led
administration, the Ambode gov ernment, which is mindful of e xcellence,
has demonstrated undeniable co mmitment to promoting artistic project in
order to promote the state as one with an artistic soul.
Moreover, the AU officials, AF RIMA officials and some artist es later
paid a courtesy visit to the G overnor’s office in Alausa, Ik eja Lagos.
Thanking the Lagos state gover nment for accepting the right to host
AFRIMA 2016, AU Head of Cultur e, Angela Martins, also commen ded the
state’s support artistic enter prise.
“This is a great achievement f or Africa which also promotes the
development of culture and an advancement of the creative in dustry,”
she said.
In response, the Lagos State G overnor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode w elcomed the
guests especially the artistes and AU officials who he said were
visiting him for the first tim e. He also promised that Lagos would
always be in support of the ar ts, culture and entertainment.
He said, “We want to promote A frican artistes and we believe that
Africa is blessed with talents and resources. Lagos is ready to partner
with AFRIMA and support the cr eative industry because Lagos is the new
face of the world and we are r eady to partner African Union on AFRIMA
back-to-back.”
The third edition of All Afric a Music Awards will hold on No vember 4-6
in Lagos, Nigeria.