By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In a bid to stimulate its economic and tourism potentials, Lagos State is set to host the maiden edition of the Nigeria Beer Festival from September 25 to October 1, 2017.
To make this happen, the Lagos State government is collaborating with beer brewers in the country and their counterparts across the globe to create maximum excitement during the week-long fiesta that will climax with the Independence Day Mega Concert to commemorate Nigeria’s independence.
The festival, which will promote responsible drinking among drinking-age (which is 18 years and above) consumers at all its touch points, will be held at the Lagos Atlantic City to give it a carnival atmosphere from day 1 to the very last second.
It will be a gathering of the largest community of beer consumers from across the country and beyond.
Organizers of the Nigeria Beer Festival, On and One Event (001) Limited, said that the Lagos State government, which is passionate about tourism, will provide massive institutional support, particularly security, transport and related logistics.
The event, according to the organizers, will see Nigeria enrol into the league of Beer Festivals around the world, and boost the country’s tourism opportunities.
General Manager of 001, Mr Akinola Oluwaleimu, revealed that the world-acclaimed Oktoberfest (Beer Festival) in Munich attracts more than 50,000 tourists to Germany every year, while other countries in Europe and the Americas have caught the bug.
“Nigeria Beer Festival will be a carnival week of entertainment, sales and marketing and a gathering of the largest community of beer consumers from across the country and beyond with economic value for the brands and the economy at large,” Mr Oluwaleimu assured.
The Nigeria Beer Festival will provide a fitting ambience to showcase fashion and lifestyle, as well as culture in a carnival atmosphere with various beer brands and other alcoholic drinks in Nigeria connecting with their existing and potential consumers.
This culture touch point is in line with the view of social scientists that that beer is among the symbolic vehicles for identifying, describing, constructing and manipulating cultural values and interpersonal relationships. They classify different alcoholic beverages in terms of their social and cultural meanings.
Historians submit that Beer has always been popular – since times of ancient Babylon and Greece, Mesopotamia and Egypt and is one of the oldest beverages humans have produced, dating back to at least the fifth millennium BC.
Anthropologists and archaeologists also believe that it was a taste for beer, not bread that started the cultivation of barley in around 9000BC, known as the agricultural revolution. Beer didn’t just change the world; historians insist it saved it!
Meanwhile partners of the forthcoming Nigeria Beer Festival are also assured of world-standard facilities as the organisers of the Nigeria Beer Festival have partnered with reputable and qualified architects from Europe to design modular stands to fit into any shape or style desired by exhibitors.
Mr Oluwaleimu said that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is expected to close the festival during the Independence Day Mega Concert that will parade an array of A-list Nigerian artistes, which will feature eye-popping fireworks display.
Aduragbemi Omiyale