By Staff Reporter
All through the month of December, dashing colours and brightly plumed costumes have exploded on the streets of Calabar in southern Nigeria as the annual Calabar Carnival treated revellers to a battle of street parades.
The street carnival, dubbed 'Battle of Bands', which began on December 1st to terminate on New Year's Eve, is the entertainment climax and biggest tourism event that marks the end of the year for many fun seekers in Nigeria and beyond.
It attracts over two million revellers and features participants from over 25 countries, according to data from organisers.
The cherry of the event is the colourful street parade, which is a fiercely contested festival category that sees the winning band walk away with $100,000.
The parade takes place over a 12-kilometre route and features 50,000 costumed revellers who perform in five major carnival bands and 10 non-competing bands.
It is a spectacle, as thousands line the streets to watch the different bands go by.
While flagging off the event this year, the state governor, Senator Bassey Otu, acknowledged that tourism across the continent still suffers from the impact of COVID-19, but the sector is slowly getting back on its feet.
"This particular theme came as a result of almost all the other themes which captures the carnival from inception. After COVID-19, there was a total breakdown and people were so disillusioned,'' said Otu.
"Whether people like it or not, after a season of very tough situations, hunger, and other things, there will actually come a season where people are going to smile, and fortunately, this is that season,” he added.
The event started back in 2004 by the then-state governor, Donald Duke, to boost tourism and the local economy of the state and country as a whole.
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