Category: Entertainment

El Kouraji Mohcine is the winner of the 19th edition of the International Cycling Tour of Cameroon, which took place from June 3-11, 2023.

The Moroccan grabbed the yellow jersey after recording the best overall performance in all eight laps. He finished 9th in the final phase of the competition.

“I came to Cameroon to win the tour. I had won my first tour in Cote d’Ivoire. This is the second tour for me. Thanks to all of the organizers of the competition” El Kouraji said.

The best Cameroonian, Michel Boris Tiencheu, was ranked fourth in the general classification. His compatriot Clovis Kamzong Abessolo, finished second in the last lap on Sunday, behind Ed Doghmy Achraf from Morocco, who covered the 118km distance from Bafia to Yaounde in 2 hours 57 minutes and 26 seconds.

45 cyclists thronged the streets of the four cultural zones of Cameroon in this year’s event from the North in Garoua, down South to Yaounde in the Centre region.

Nine teams from eight countries were represented, with cyclists from the Maghreban region of Africa dominating.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The German Ambassador-designate to Cameroon, Corinna Fricke has reassured Cameroon of the return of Artifacts taken to Germany during the colonial era.

This was during an audience she had on Friday, June 9, 2023, with the Minister of Arts and Culture, Pierre Ismaël Bidoung Kwwatt.

Both officials met to discuss the stakes of plans by both countries to return the Cameroon archives and artifacts taken to Germany during the colonial era.

Her Excellency Corinna Fricke promised to continue supporting the committee set up to facilitate the restitution of these historic arts.

“During the last months, I have been attending conferences in Yaounde and one in Berlin. It was about our Cameroon past, we will cooperate with the Ministry, government, and civil society to bring back the arts from Germany” She said.

She also stated that “I am also glad about our cooperation with the family of King Rudolf Duala Manga Bell. Our Minister of State was in Douala last year and made an important speech, and now several towns in Germany have decided to give places and streets the Name Duala Manga Bell”.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Promoting African culture appears to be a herculean task in present day Nigeria, no thanks to modernisation and western influences after many decades of colonisation.

Many Africans, especially the elites, who often times place western culture above the time-treasured and unique African culture, poss great challenge to its promotion on African continent.

It is against this background that the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) has continued to champion the promotion of African culture by fulfilling its mandate of preserving, presenting and propagating the African culture in its entirety as well as restoring Africa’s rich cultural heritage.

Stepping up on its mandate, under the leadership of highly resourceful Oluwabunmi Amao, the Centre has engaged in the promotion of Pan-Africanism, creating a sense of brotherhood and collaboration among all people of African descent.

Also, the centre continues to hold conferences, seminars, and workshops that border on harnessing the creative talent of the African child and the renaissance of African culture through music, crafts, language, literature, folklore and all.

Arts and crafts exhibitions as well as exhibitions of the relics from the Festival for Arts and culture, held in 1977 were also contantly on exhibition at the centre to keep alive the spirit of FESTAC ’77 among Africans.

Going steps further, Amao built CBAAC Black and African Hall of Fame in Abuja, celebrating black personalities and professionals that have played prominent roles in the emancipation of Africa.

Among those in the CBAAC Hall of Fame are former African presidents during FESTAC ’77 like Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo; Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and Ahmed Sekou Toure of, Guinea.

Others curated were Jean Bedel Bokassa of, Central African Republic; Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe; Leopold Sedar Senghor, Senegal; Moktar Ould Daddah, Mauritania; Felix Malloum Bey-Ndi, Chad; and El Hadj Omar Bongo, Gabon.

Amao said the Hall of Fame is also to showcase the achievements of FESTAC ’77.

According to the CBAAG boss, artistes and non artistes from 59 countries who participated in the international festival are showcased in the Hall of Fame. The CBAAG boss said that the Hall of Fame is a deliberate effort to preserve the historical legacy of FESTAC ’77 for present and future generations of African children.

She encourages Nigerian and African tourists to visit the Hall of Fame located on the third floor of the Office of Head of Service at Federal Secretariat, Abuja for knowledge acquisition and education.

Under her watch, CBAAC also commemorated the 45th anniversary of FESTAC ’77 with a cultural potpourri held at Abuja Transcorp Hilton in December 2023.

Amidst glitz and glamour, there were displays of African cuisines, arts, crafts, musical rendition from different African countries, colloquium and awards during the well-attended Gala Night.

The event spurred some nostalgic reactions when relics and memories of FESTAC ’77 was brought to the fore through documentary presentations of various cultural displays exhibited during FESTAC 46 years ago.

The initial documentaries were juxtaposed with a series of performances yet again by various states and delegates from other countries.

Suffice to say that the entire performance revealed how culture had evolved over the years and the enormous potential yet untapped for economic benefits.

Countries in scintillating African dance styles and songs were seen in colourful display of various aspects of African culture, arts, crafts and all.

At the gala night, Zimbabweans exhibited an important aspect of their historical cultural lifestyle in acrobatic movement with rhythmic claps and drummings.

Ditto for Ugandans who, in classic appearance, made synchronised movement of their indigenous dances in their presentation relaying stories in captivating manner.

Our neighbouring Togolese danced in their Rafia costumes and beaded legs, while the Sudanese performance revealed their nomadic lifestyle usually displayed during joyous occasions.

South Africans indlamu dance expressed their cultural regalia and the Somalians, in dramatic expressions, tell stories of their exploits and travails as a nation.

Other countries whose documentaries were exhibited were Libya, Mozambique, Cuba, Cote d’Ivoire and many more.

The event had Indians display various fabrics peculiar to different regions of the country.

African fashion and hairdo across different countries were also on display.

Present at the gala night were former Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who commended Amao’s efforts at championing cultural promotion in the country.

Mohammed described Amao as a leader with deep love and sense of responsibility for arts, culture and heritage.

He said FESTAC”77 served as a sanctuary for the unification of the Black people across the world because the historical festival recorded a series of positive narratives.

According to him, the festival inspired many to go back to their countries of residence and preach the messages of bravery and freedom.

No fewer than 21 traditional rulers and members of the diplomatic community were conferred with awards of excellence in appreciation of their remarkable contributions to cultural promotion and propagation.

Among the traditional rulers honoured are: Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Frederick Akinruntan; the Dein of Agbor Kingdom, Benjamin Ikenchukwu I; Olubadan of Ibadan, Senator Moshood Balogun; Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar; Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe; Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Bamalli and the Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II.

Others are: Oba Olusola Alao, the Olugbon of Orile-Igbon; Goge Africa; Zainab Ahmed, former Minster of Finance, Budget and National Planning; Mrs Omotayo Omotosho, a tourism consultant and Geoffrey Onyeama, former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Awardees from the diplomatic community include: Clara Culido-Escandel, the Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, and Dr Yanko Yordanov, the Bulgarian Ambassador to Nigeria.

Also, recipients from the creative industry are: Chief Nike Davies-Okundaye, Founder, Nike Arts Gallery; Aralola Olumuyiwa, Cultural Ambassador to Ife Kingdom, and Nollywood Actor, Ramsey Nouah.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Samuel Fosso 60, a contemporary artist who photographs himself in the style of leading historical figures including Martin Luther King and Angela Davis, has won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2023, the BBC has reported.

The Cameroonian-born Nigerian photographer Samuel Fosso was awarded the $37,000 prize at the Photographers’ Gallery in London.

Samuel Fossi now described as “a man of 1,000 faces”, has since 1970 specialized in self-portraiture and performative photography and his works currently appear in most renowned galleries across the world.

Speaking to the BBC after bagging the prestigious prize Samuel reacted saying;

“Winning this prestigious prize, recognized as one of the most important in the field of photography, means that my work is recognized by the artistic community.

This recognition is very important to me. I feel a lot of joy and pride.” he stated

The Director of the Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation, Anne-Marie Beckmann, said Fosso’s retrospective opened up new perspectives, allowing many more people to discover his work for the first time.

“Through the retrospective, we were able to see his work differently and gain a much deeper understanding of the relevance of his practice today,” she said.

The jury also acknowledged the work of the other shortlisted artists, Bieke Depoorter, Arthur Jafa, and Frida Orupabo, who received £5,000 each, the Guardian reported.

The exhibition showcasing all four artists is currently ongoing at the Photographers’ Gallery until June 11th, 2023.

Samuel Fosso was raised in Nigeria and later fled the Biafran war as a young boy, in 1972 and was taken in by an uncle in Bangui in the Central African Republic.

In 1975, at the age of 13, reports revealed he opened his Studio Photo Nationale to take commercial portrait photographs. He also made self-portraits to fill the unused parts of his photographic films. His work includes using self-portraits adopting a series of personas, often commenting on the history of Africa.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

Durban Tourism, the marketing authority for the city of Durban, South Africa, says some tourism infrastructural development are underway in the city ahead of the 2024 edition of Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) expo.

Winnile Mntungwa, Deputy Head, Durban Tourism, gave the assurance during a news conference at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre on Thursday.

Mntungwa assured tourists that the development would totally transform Durban, the host city for the just concluded three-day ATI expo.

According to her, the development is neccesary as Durban remains the host for the 2024 and 2025 editions of the expo.

“A film city similar to what is obtainable in Hollywood will be constructed as well as a resuscitation of the waterfront in the city.

“There will be a different Durban in 2024, when you come for Indaba. You all know that we take pride in ourselves as the city under construction.

“We hope to complete the film city which will be of disney standard; cruising activity will be upgraded and we have a lot of other infrastructural developments ongoing as well,” she said.

Mntungwa noted that the organisation had exceeded its success projections for the expo so far, as 6,000 delegates were targeted but was able to attract 8,629 delegates.

“I am happy, we are making a positive and upward impact, we look forward to a big one in 2024 and I believe we Africans will continue to tell our stories more,” she said.

Also, Zinnie Nzama, Acting Chief Convention Bureau Officer, South Africa Tourism, noted that 21,000 meetings were held during the expo as against 18,000 meetings held in 2022.

She said this was quite encouraging as she appealed to Africans to engage themselves further and make 2024 edition of the expo a bigger one.

Mr John Arittho, Chief Operations Officer, Durban International Convention Centre (ICC), promised to provide a more comfortable venue for the expo in 2024.

Arittho also assured tourists that the hotel facilities around the ICC would be made available for them to use in 2024.

He disclosed that for each day of the just concluded expo, 6,000 meals were served.

“The most interesting aspect of the expo was having students from different vocational academy in Durban participate in the expo.

“This is a way of catching them young to enable them become self reliant and responsible,” he said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Some exhibitors at the just concluded 2023 Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) on Thursday commended the South Africa Tourism (SAT) for a well organised expo.

The exhibitors who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews expressed excitement over sales recorded and business deals sealed at the expo.

NAN reports that the three-day expo witnessed business meetings, conferences, exhibitions, diverse cultural displays, virtual tourism education, nightlife experience and more.

The expo attracted no fewer than 8,000 delegates from across the globe with over 1,000 exhibitors.

Tabitha Muchogu, Sales and Marketing Administration Manager, Heritage Hotels,Kenya, who had been attending the expo for the past 15 years, said significant improvement was observed.

Muchogu said the organisation of the fair was well coordinated and appropriate imformation were consistently and promptly circulated.

She noted that the quality of buyers had also improved tremendously as travel agents known as the buyers had the potential to sell their products.

“Now I can see that we have fewer jokers coming into the exhibition, who one can confidently transact businesses with. I don’t know how this was done but there are great improvements compared to the past editions.

“Going forward, I would want the South Africa Tourism to consider serving local dishes because what we had was lots of finger foods,” she said.

Also, Julia De Beer, Marketing and Reservations Manager, Siviti Timbavati Plains, said “It is a great experience here, the exhibition has been a prosperous one, we have made sales.

“I have also been able to learn a lot, for instance, I learnt the real estate business from some other exhibitors around.”

Similarly, Cassilda Ntsane, Group Sales Manager, Premier Hotel in Pretoria, who commended SAT for a well organised expo, advised them to ensure that the number of buyers exceeded that of the exhibitors, going forward.

“This will ensure that market demand meets supply,” he said.

Frank Udeme from Nigeria, said the expo was beneficial to him because he learnt diverse aspects of African culture.

He urged Africans to keep being friendly with one another and explore more of African boarders during leisure, instead of visiting the western world for tourism.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

A photographic exhibition portraying the Nakba (catastrophe) victims of 1948 will be on display on 15-17 May at the Palestinian Embassy in Luanda, Angola.

This was confirmed by the Palestinian diplomat, Jubrael Al Shomali, while speaking to Angop on May 15, the date on which the conflict between Israel and Palestine began.

Jubrael Al Shomali said that “after 75 years of uprooting, displacement and exile, the number of Palestinian refugees reached about 8 million.

“Israeli brutal actions against the Palestinian people, who even today suffer the bitterness of a conflict, have lasted for decades”, he stressed.

He said that Israel has already settled in more than 85% of the historic areas of Palestine, of approximately 27,000 square kilometers, and 531 Palestinian towns and cities are destroyed.

Data released by Human Rights Organisations and the Palestinian Prisoners Club put at about 1 million the number of people detained by the Israeli occupation forces, since 1976 until today, between men and women.

The area of dispute between the two sides is located in the Middle East, more precisely in Palestine.

The main focus is the city of Jerusalem, a point of strong religious tourist potential and which is considered a sacred place for the three monotheistic religions of the planet: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

Fifteen players have been selected from the South-West zone for the final of the maiden Global Grassroots Football Tournament (GGFT) scheduled to take place in Abuja on May 17.

Joseph Ombugala, Chief Zonal Coordinator, Global Grassroots Football Tournament, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) over the telephone on Sunday that the 15 players were chosen on merit.

“We saw players in the South-West that think with their feet,” he said.

Ombugala said that 60 players from the six states of the South-West zone participated in the rigorous selection process which eventually produced 15 players.

“So far, we have concluded South-South and South-East with seven and eight best players selected respectively for the final in Abuja.

“From South-South, we arrived South-West, using Obasanjo’s farm in Ogun State as base.

“When we came, we saw 60 selected best of best players ready for the tournament at Obasanjo’s farm.

“From the 60 players, Uchendu Nwabara, Proprietor of Prestige Football Academy, Abuja, myself and the Chief Scout, Yahaya Adamu, worked together to pick 15.

“We worked without sentiment. We saw talents and we were amazed with what we saw in the South-West,” Ombugala said.

According to him, none of the players that emerged from the scouting process will be rejected going by the quality of talents on parade.

He said that players so far selected were presumed the best and would in no distant time play for the country’s various national teams.

“We believe that none of the players we selected in the various zones will be rejected by foreign scouts because we worked without bias.

“We can decide to leave a zone if we don’t see quality players because a lot of people are coming to watch the final in Abuja and we won’t want to feed them with underperforming players.

“This is one of the best scouting programme I have ever seen in Nigeria and we hope to sustain it on annual basis.

“We are here to select and give opportunity to the best players to showcase themselves. These players performance in the future will go a long way to show what we have done.

“We hope that players that emerge from our tournament will win Africa and World footballers award,” Ombugala said.

NAN reports that the tournament moves to North-East (Bauchi) zone beginning from May 8, after its successful outing in South-West.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Cuanza Corridor and Semba music style were recently elevated to national historic and cultural heritage.

This was confirmed by minister of Culture and Tourism Filipe Zau on Tuesday in Luanda.

Filipe Zau was addressing an opening session of the round table, with topic: protection of cultural, material and immaterial heritage of Angola, ahead of International Day for Monuments and Sites, celebrated on April 18.

The minister also quoted the Dikanza (musical instrument) and Bessangana (traditional costume in Luanda province), as being also elevated to historical and cultural heritage.

According to him, such an heritage makes Angola pride of preserving a variety of cultural assets that represent one of the greatest cultural and human riches of any society.

In 1982, UNESCO’s General Conference established 18 April as the International Day for Monuments and Sites.

Angola has more than 278 classified monuments and sites.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)