AFRIMA, AU TO SUPPORT FELABRATION 2016

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Yeni Kuti with Adenrele Niyi and Kemi Ashefon

Following the successful release of the full Nominees List for the 2016 All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International Committee of AFRIMA have entered into partnership with organisers of Felabration 2016, the annual festival organised to celebrate the late music maestro and Afrobeat creator, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Ms. Adenrele Niyi, Associate Producer, AFRIMA, disclosed this when  the Founder of Felabration and daughter of the late music legend, Ms. Yeni Kuti, paid a courtesy call to the AFRIMA Secretariat in Lagos, Nigeria recently.

According to Niyi, AFRIMA will be fully involved with Felabration 2016 with the theme “Everybody Say Yeah Yeah” right from the first event, the Senior Secondary Schools Debate, which holds on Wednesday, 5 October, to the main week-long festivities commencing from Monday, 10 October.

Her words; “There’s no better way to begin this partnership with Felabration than through the school debate for secondary school students in Lagos State. It creates the perfect platform for the AFRIMA Foundation to purse her Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in Lagos State, the 2016 Official Host City for AFRIMA through our CSR initiative, Educate-A-Child (Our Voice). It is an Africa-wide campaign that took AFRIMA to Bakoteh Proper Lower Basic School, Banjul, Gambia, in May 2016 to interact with the teaching staff and students.

The Associate Producer stated that the visit to the school was part of the programmes lined up for the AFRIMA-AUC joint media/cultural conference held in Gambia on 24 May, 2016. During the visit, AFRIMA donated educational materials, computers and musical equipment to the school.

She noted that in keeping with the objectives of the CSR to raise the standard of education in Africa and create conducive learning environments for African children, participating schools and winners at the school debate would benefit from the Educate-A-Child endowment.

“We are set to replicate this commitment to education in Nigeria by donating prizes in the form of educational materials and equipment to both participating schools and winners at the Felabration 2016 Schools Debate. Our goal is to encourage young people that education is rewarding and to show that learning will help them understand and take pride in their cultural heritage,” she added.

The AFRIMA top executive told the visitor that the legendary Fela won the 2016 AFRIMA Legend Award which implies that the the awards organisers are so proud of Fela Kuti’s achievements and legacy as a music composer and artiste.

“Naturally, we are excited to be associated with a brand that celebrates artistic excellence as AFRIMA does,” Niyi said.

Responding, Yeni Kuti thanked AFRIMA and the AU for the gesture and urged more organisations to emulate AFRIMA.

She said, “We are delighted that AFRIMA will be participating in Felabration 2016 starting with the school debate; it’s been a challenge hosting this school debate and to have AFRIMA come in through the Educate-A-Child CSR is a relief. Each year, the debate has been very interesting and the schools and students benefit greatly in terms of exposure to new knowledge and the opportunity to increase the educational materials available for learning.”

Kuti added that the topic for this year’s debate, “Reparation: Yes or No?” will challenge the students to delve into African history and learn new things about their heritage.

“We want to keep Fela’s love of culture and learning alive among young people,” she said.

While concluding the discussion, Ms Niyi urged the Fela Foundation to also get involved in the AFRIMA 2016 programme of events from 4-6 November, 2016 which includes the Africa Music Business Summit on Friday, 4 November and the AFRIMA Music Village, an open concert-style festival featuring nominees and other top billed music stars, also on same Friday, 4 November.

In partnership with the AUC and the Official Host City, Lagos State, AFRIMA 2016 grand awards ceremony holds on Sunday, November 6 with thousands of guests expected in Lagos for the various events.