We shouldn’t allow vision of FESTAC to die ― Bolaji Akinyemi

Former Minister of External Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria not to allow the vision of the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) to die.

The ex-Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) made this known during the second conversation series entitled FESTAC OF SPORTS, organized by NIIA in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development on Thursday in Lagos.

Professor Akinyemi stated that the time for the festival is right and it is important to join it with sports due to the advantage of sports as a means of soft diplomacy.

The former minister explained that Nigeria would be embarking on a new world since the Russia-Ukraine war is destroying the old world order via the festival.

He noted that sports can be used as an instrument to be tabled for the new world order.

“We should not allow the vision of FESTAC to die. I think the time is right for FESTAC. And it is important we join it with sports because we use sports now for soft diplomacy.

“You know the way Nigerians feel when we okay football and we forget our differences when we win. Why can’t we bill don sports to build black solidarity in the world?

“We are embarking on building a new world order. The war between Russia and Ukraine is destroying the old world order.

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“Sports can be one of the instruments we put on the table to determine the new world order,” he stated.

Speaking also, the Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Professor Eghosa Osaghae, explained that the festival would change the world and make it a place where the black person, the African people of African-descent and coloured people in the world come together.

Professor Osaghae further explained that the aforementioned people would come together to plan their future, celebrate their own story, compete on equal footing with the rest of the world, make peace with the rest of the world and succeed.

He, therefore, noted that the conversations would create faint outlines of a global movement that will change the course of the history of the black race.

“The emerging picture is one of a force that when unleashed can change the world and make it a place where the black person, the African people of African-descent, computed people in the world come together.

“They would come together to plan their future celebrate their own story compete on equal footing with the rest of the world, make peace with the rest of the world and succeed.

“From these conversations, the faint outlines of a global movement, created around a festival of Arts, culture and sports, that will change the course of the history of the black race,” he said.

Segun Kasali