The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and the Spanish
Embassy in Nigeria have announced the plan to jointly organize a music
festival, to be held in Lagos or Abuja, for budding Nigerian
Musicians.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the
Spanish Ambassador in Nigeria, Mr. Juan Ignacio Sell, announced the
plan in Abuja on Thursday when the Ambassador paid a courtesy visit to
the Minister.
They said the festival would give young Nigerian musicians the
opportunity to showcase their talents, and that those who excel at the
festival would be invited to music festivals in Spain to give them
exposure and a platform to showcase their talents
The Minister thanked the Ambassador for proposing the music festival,
saying: ”we welcome this proposal with both hands.”
He expressed the hope that the festival could be held as early as December 2022.
Alhaji Mohammed said Nigeria and Spain share diversity and creativity,
adding that he looks forward to deepening relations with Spain in the
area of culture, tourism and creative industry.
He also thanked the Ambassador for the plan by the Spanish Embassy to
endow a Chair in Spanish language at the University of Lagos, from
next year, with a view to encouraging the teaching of Spanish language
in Nigeria.
”We hope this will be followed up by the opening of Spanish Cultural
Centres in Nigeria. We are starting right and this is one of the ways
of concretizing the agreements we signed in Spain during the state
visit of President Muhammadu Buhari in May,” the Minister said.
Earlier, the Ambassador had said Nigeria and Spain enjoy strong
relations but noted the need to grow and extend the relations to other
fields.
”Cultural relations is a very relevant part of our bilateral
relations. Strengthening it will help bring our countries and peoples
even closer,” he said.
L-R: The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; The Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Juan Ignacio Sell and the Director General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Mr Folorunsho Coker, when the Ambassador paid a courtesy visit to the Minister in Abuja on Thursday
Segun Adeyemi
Special Assistant to the President (Media)
Office of the Minister of Information and Culture
Abuja
29 July 2022
