By Oluwaseun Sonde
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.
Contained in a statement released by Special Assistance to the President on Media (Office of the Minister), Segun Adeyemi on Friday, as Alhaji Mohammed 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.
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