Adedokun Waliyu 
Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, and Egypt will participate in the 2023 Calabar Carnival in Cross River, Nigeria.
Calabar Carnival, regarded as “the pride of Nigeria”, is an annual cultural event celebrated in eastern Nigeria.
This year’s edition, tagged ‘Season of Sweetness’, will be held between December 1 and 31.
According to NAN, 26 states in Nigeria have already shown interest in participating in the annual ceremony.
Speaking with reporters ahead of the ceremony, Austine Cobham, the commission’s executive secretary, said the 2023 session would be a “pace-setter” for the 20-year-old carnival.
He said the participating countries and states would not be segmented but allowed to “showcase their beauty, elegance, pageantry and talents”.
Cobham said adequate arrangements had been made to ensure the security of lives and property before, during, and after the carnival held usually at Yuletide.
He also said the impact of the 31-day festival will not be limited to Calabar but extended to the entire state.
“We are working to ensure that the 2023 edition will be record-setting in comparison with editions held since 2004,” he said.
“We shall introduce new events at the 2023 carnival and reintroduce the children carnival, which had been stopped since 10 years ago.
“Concentration will not be in Calabar as the central and northern parts of the state will also be made to feel and enjoy the carnival.
“We are lighting up major roads and streets in Calabar for the festival, and same will be done in the central and northern parts of Cross River.”
