The Abuja Carnival 2005 has opened with fanfare and colourful panache at the Eagle Square.

Bands of dazzlingly costumed troupes from all parts of the country are there enthusiastically showcasing Nigeria’s affluent cultural heritage through dance and music to the corporeal pleasuring of local and international tourists.

Observers have applauded the Carnival as a brilliant initiative that will promote peace, inter-community bonding and entertainment with potentials for securing a prominent and favourable international cultural identity for the country.

Declaring the carnival open on 24 November, President Olusegun Obasanjo said that in the contemporary world, there is a renewed appreciation of the importance of culture not only for national growth and development but also for peace, security, stability and harmony.

He noted that though culture is not static it however retains its core values which must be deployed skilfully to support innovations at all levels adding that in this digital age, where all forms of technology are eroding inherited values that traditionally bound peoples, communities and constituencies together, the re-appreciation of culture is most welcome.

He said that re-appreciation, re-valuation and re-packaging of culture through carnival in no way implies a return to idolatry, the primitive or an attack against creativity rather, it is to contextualise such efforts and build a soul that is both indigenous and endogenous to our living and the values that make us unique.

According to him, the Abuja Carnival is an initiative of this administration designed to “express our goals, diverse cultures and aspiration as a people, inaugurate Abuja as a window of opportunity for Nigerians and the international community and also to market Nigeria”.

He expressed hope that Abuja Carnival 2005 will provide a pleasing, comfortable and enjoyable environment for both Nigerians and the guests