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AFRIMA backs Felabration 2016

By Chuks Nwanne
24 September 2016   |   1:53 am
Ahead of this year’s edition of the All Africa Music Awards, (AFRIMA), the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International Committee of AFRIMA have entered into partnership with Felabration 2016....
Kemi Ashefon, Yeni Kuti and Adenrele Niyi

Kemi Ashefon, Yeni Kuti and Adenrele Niyi

Ahead of this year’s edition of the All Africa Music Awards, (AFRIMA), the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International Committee of AFRIMA have entered into partnership with Felabration 2016, the annual festival organised to celebrate the late music maestro and Afrobeat creator, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

With theme, Everybody Say Yeah Yeah, the decision to support this year’s Felabration was made public recently, when the Associate Producer, AFRIMA, Ms. Adenrele Niyi received the Founder of the festival and daughter of late Fela, Ms. Yeni Kuti, who was on a courtesy visit to AFRIMA management.

According to Ms Niyi, AFRIMA will be fully involved with Felabration 2016 from the first event, the Senior Secondary Schools Debate, which holds on Wednesday, October 5, and from Monday, October 10, when the week-long festivities will commence.

“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 visit to the school was part of the programmes lined up for the AFRIMA-AUC joint media/cultural conference held in Gambia on May 24, 2016. During our visit, AFRIMA donated educational materials, computers and musical equipment to the school,” she said.

In keeping with the objectives of the CSR to raise the standard of education in Africa and create conducive learning environments for African children, Niyi informed that 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. Remember Fela won the 2016 AFRIMA Legend Award, which tells you that we are 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.”

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

In her response, Yeni Kuti thanked AFRIMA and the AU for the gesture and urged more organisations to emulate them.“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.”

According to Ms. Kuti, 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.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 to grace the ceremony.

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