Onah: Carnival Calabar Needs More Private Funding

Charles Ajunwa

The Chairman of the Cross River State Carnival Commission for Carnival Calabar, Gabe Onah, has said more private sector funding was needed for the 2026 Africa’s biggest street party.

Onah, who disclosed this in Lagos, recently, said they also need funding from the public sector and individuals.

He further stated that the state government is working hard to reintroduce the international segment of Carnival Calabar.

“We are really working hard to reintroduce the international segment because we are global and we have received a lot of offerings. So we are working on it. We will soon unveil our headline artist and we will form the backdrop.”

Onah, who said that four successive governors of the state including incumbent Governor Bassey Otu supported the festival, stressed that collaborations were needed from the Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy to make the sector thrive.

“The globalists have christened the sector as orange economy, which buttresses what you have always called it, the low-hanging fruit. Which means in an orchard of oranges or any kind of fruits, the moment you can harvest from your ankle or your knee or your hip, it’s a low-hanging fruit. That is tourism. For us, as our most tangible product, Carnival Calabar Festival, we can’t thank the media enough for all you have been pushing out for us.”

For this year’s Carnival Calabar, he said there would be deliberate digital streaming and online voting.

“We are encouraging Nigerians in Africa to register to become members of Carnival bands organically, like we register for premiership clubs.

“Then we discovered that the artistic scoring by our adjudicators that come from the artistic field, architects, engineers, because the ambulatory float you see on the road, they have mechanical production. So, the spectacle is good, but based on the elements of theatre, we now want the public to have a say, like the Big Brother framework because by the time you say Seagull won, for me I saw Passion 4. So, vote Passion 4

“But the bottom line is the IGR receipt. As you are voting, you are saying hello better to us. We are planning for the rainy day. We have been blessed, four governors have successfully adopted this sector. What if the fifth one comes and says, I want to do only cassava?” Onah noted.