The African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of AFRIMA have announced that the 6th edition of the All Africa Music Awards themed ‘Feel Africa’ will be hosted in Lagos in association with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Nigeria, from November 20 to 23, 2019.
With the development, Ghana, which should be the host country for 5 years, has been dropped.
It was gathered that the government was miffed that it eventually expended more than what was budgeted for in 2018.
A source told DAILY POST that the matter might have caused a cabinet rejig some months ago which affected Ghana’s former Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Catherine Afeku.
“AFRIMA didn’t uphold their end of the bargain. Despite concluding on the terms, AFRIMA gave Ghana more demands”, said the source.
“Ghana had to do some of this things just to ensure the event was successful because the number of invitees shot up and that affected logistical. AFRIMA requested for several more classy hotel rooms days to the awards.
“Ghana agreed to sponsor with some billions for 5 years but in just one edition they spent almost that amount. The government also frowned at some discrepancies and AFRIMA was accused of being disorganised.”
On Thursday, in her statement, Head of Culture, African Union Commission, Angela Martins said, “Nigeria playing host to the 6th AFRIMA is indicative of the beneficial relationship the country has developed with the AU & AFRIMA as we use this continental awards platform to strengthen Africa’s culture industries while also promoting the cultural identity and integration of Africans.
“We are also appreciative of Lagos State Government for hosting 4 previous successful editions of the annual awards programs of events. We are confident that hosting AFRIMA in Lagos state, Nigeria will in no small measure constitute significant achievements for the promotion of African Union’s cultural objectives through the AFRIMA platform”
Associate Producer, AFRIMA, Adenrele Niyi said: “The 6th AFRIMA finds home in Nigeria for the 2019 awards ceremony and we could not be more excited for this edition. We are coming out of a super successful 2018 edition in Ghana -the 5th AFRIMA was a milestone year for us.
“These are interesting times for African music as more of our creatives are defying the imaginary limitations of cultural diversity to collaborate and create magical music. Many of these works would be showcased at the awards events such as the AFRIMA Music Village concert and the Main Awards Ceremony.”
Voting process, which closes on November 22, will determine eventual winners in the 36 AFRIMA awards categories to be recognized at the main awards ceremony.
