AU TARGETS FOUR CITIES TO HOST AFRIMA 3.0 IN NIGERIA

The African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Committee of 
the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) have earmarked four cities in 
Nigeria to host the third edition of the All Africa Music Awards, 
(AFRIMA) which holds in November 2016.

This was disclosed at just concluded 27th AU Summit in Kigali, Rwanda on 
July 17, 2016.
The four cities targeted as potential hosts for the continental awards 
ceremony are: Calabar (Cross River State), Lagos (Lagos State), Port 
Harcourt (Rivers State) and Uyo (Akwa Ibom State),
The AU’s interest emanated from the visions of these four states in 
promoting and preserving Africa’s rich culture while also inspiring 
African youths.
The Commissioner for Social Affairs, African Union Commission, Dr 
Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko said, “The main purpose of the Host City 
partnership is to showcase the tourism and economic potential of one of 
the great cities in Africa and promote its strengths to global audience 
which in turn adds to the GDP of the state and the continent at large.”
While urging the considered cities to passionately vie for hosting 
privileges, the AUC official pointed out the immense advantages for the 
host city which include ‘long term investment and job creation; adoption 
of new benchmarks for city development; increased civic pride and 
community empowerment; increased tourism and publicity’.
“Ultimately, there is an opportunity to tap into the millions of 
participants and followers of the booming African music,” said Dr. 
Kaloko.
Also, AFRIMA Director of Sponsorship/Communication, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi, 
explained that these four states are capable of creating global brand 
equity for Africa.
She said, “The host city will be one that is willing to create value and 
deep brand equity not only for Nigerians but Africans. It must have the 
most motivation to host AFRIMA in line with its values; have the 
strongest vision in tourism, culture and entertainment; have the most 
adequate facilities, surrounding infrastructure, security and tourist 
attraction to host the event and should have hosted successful events in 
the past that attracted both national and or global audiences.”
AFRIMA in partnership with the AUC opened submission of entries for this 
year’s edition of the continental awards on Monday, May 30, 2016.
Music professionals of African origin including artistes, songwriters, 
video directors, music/entertainment journalists and music producers 
resident on the continent or abroad are eligible to enter in any of the 
33 award categories and entry submission closes on Saturday, July 30, 
2016. Works to be submitted must be produced in the year under 
review—May 20, 2015 to July 30, 2016.
Format of submission: Detailed information about eligibility and format 
of submission is available on www.afrima.org.