Cross River Reviews Safety Measures for Carnival Rehearsals

The Cross River State Carnival Commission has strengthened its partnership with various security agencies. To enhance the safety of lives and property during the upcoming carnival rehearsals, This expanded collaboration aims to ensure a secure environment for participants and spectators alike, as preparations for the event intensify.

The executive secretary of the commission, Mr. Austin Cobham, shared this information during an interview with Voice of Nigeria in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State in southern Nigeria.

Mr. Cobham noted that the commission is collaborating with security and service agencies, such as the Federal Fire Service and the Cross River Transport Regulatory Agency, to enhance the safety of lives and property along the 12-kilometer carnival route.

He explained that it is customary for the commission to assess and implement new measures to enhance its carnival offerings, ensuring that tourists, guests, visitors, revelers, and spectators have the most rewarding experience during their time in Calabar.

He stated, “over the years, we have always focused on having a robust, flamboyant and spectacular event. But, with this dry run, we witnessed something different in that we amplified our safety measures. We took steps to ensure that the participants and spectators at the dry run were better secured.

“For the first time, we brought the fire fighters on the carnival route. We actually thought of every possible bridge to the safety of lives and property during the carnival and decided to put in every measure in this regard,” he stated.

Closing the gaps

He noted that after a recent evaluation of the last carnival event, the commission identified certain gaps that could have been promptly addressed through collaboration with other key organizations.

Cobham further said, “we have deployed every uniformed organisation in Cross River State to beef up security for the carnival. We are also collaborating with CTRA (Cross River Transport Agency) and they have a non-competing band. The agency is responsible for proper sensitization and regulation of commercial vehicles during the carnival dry runs and main event. 

“So, instead of the commission to use force and secure the carnival route due to activities of commercial drivers trying to utilize alternative roads during the period, CTRA would deploy its own internal measures to enhance compliance,” he averred.

Continuing, Cobham stated, “the biggest challenge during the dry runs and the entire 32 festival, which includes the carnival itself has been the proper control of commercial transport operators that sometimes cut through the carnival float to access certain areas in the city. So, we have gone into this collaboration for better synergy as well as reducing confrontations and frictions.”    

The executive secretary further hinted that the concert introduced last year during the dry runs would remain a constant feature in the coming practice session ahead of the 2024 Carnival Calabar, which has the theme “Our Shared Experience”.

“It is obvious that the concert that we introduced last year as a teaser to the 32-Day Calabar festival and adding colour to the dry run would remain a permanent event. We have called it the pre-festival concert and will be held here at the Millennium Park. At the end of the dry run, revelers and spectators will converge here for an all night concert,” he further stated.

He hinted that more than a combined three thousand five hundred revelers took to the streets of Calabar for the first carnival dry run and promised that subsequent rehearsals would feature a greater number of revelers in each band.

Oluchi Okwuego