NAFEST 2024: Minister tasks participants on perseverance

Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr Mariya Mahmoud, has assured participants at just concluded National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), that with perseverance and determination, everything is possible.

The minister who gave the assurance over the weekend at the closing ceremony in the nation’s capital, Abuja, also hailed the participants for their sterling and exceptional performances in the competition.

NAFEST, a flagship programme of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), is acclaimed to be a veritable cultural platform for promoting national unity, mutual acceptance, and peaceful co-existence among Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic, cultural, and religious differences.

According to the minister, “I’m very pleased to be here today to be able to speak to you but mostly especially to celebrate the outstanding performances of our young children, our beacon of hope and our leaders of tomorrow.

“I’m informed of your sterling and exceptional performances in the just concluded competitive events at the ongoing NAFEST 2024. Your ingenuities are an attestation to hard work, dedication, and passion and I must say that I’m very proud of you.

“Let me use this medium to appreciate and commend the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, Mr Obi Asika, one of the faces and voices behind the Nigerian idol and other young talent hunts in Nigeria.

“My young achievers, you have demonstrated that with perseverance and determination everything is possible. Your success is not just a personal achievement, it’s a reflection of the huge investment our country is making in the field of Education and youth Development in line with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

Earlier the former Director FCT Art and Culture, Mr Ayebusi Kayode, who said FAFEST affords the children the opportunity to mix and interact with those in authority, also referred to the minster as MAMA CULTURE for her love for cultural activities.

He said: “This event is where the first lady of the state that is hosting, NAFEST celebrates the children that participated in the event. It is an avenue for these children to mix and interact with those in authority and to be celebrated.

“Our first lady in the FCT the Honorable Minister of State Mrs Maria Mahmoud who we refer to as MAMA CULTURE, that position is not just by accident it’s because of her love for cultural activities. What we have done today is to host the children who have participated in NAFEST on her behalf and in the process she presented them with gifts so that they have something to go back home with and to remember that they were in Abuja.”