More details are emerging about the participation of a traditional dance/cultural
group out of Nigeria which will be visiting Antigua and Barbuda for Carnival
2023.
Festivals Minister, Daryll Matthew, said the group will arrive on a special charter
flight operated by the Nigerian airline – Air Peace – with whom the government
has entered into an agreement to purchase majority shares in LIAT (2020) Ltd.
According to Minister Matthew, the dance group will arrive with a group of high-
net-worth individuals from Nigeria who will traveling on the flight slated to arrive
at the V.C. Bird International on August 3.
The group will perform at one of the Carnival shows as well as participate in the
Tuesday Carnival parade.
“The point is for us to see that Africans are not inherently bad people. We have
been socialized in this part of the world to think that anything ‘black’ is bad. How
we speak and how we were taught to speak is really in a manner that portrays black
and the black race in a negative way,” Matthew explained.
He expressed the hope that the visit of the Nigerian dance group will go a long way
in reshaping how people in Antigua and Barbuda look at Africa and Africans
generally.
Matthew also announced that the business people who will arrive next week will
hold meetings with the Antigua and Barbuda Chamber of Industry and Commerce
as well as other members of the society to explore opportunities for investment into
Antigua and Barbuda.
