The Cross River State Government has announced that Calabar Carnival will hold inside a stadium this year as to the regular street dance.
On Sunday, Eric Anderson, the Commissioner for Tourism in the state, stated that the 2021 edition of the carnival would hold but be restricted to the UJ Esuene Sports Stadium.
There have been broad spread doubts about the Carnival being held this year due to the Coronavirus outbreak, but the commissioner stated that this move was to enforce the COVID-19 protocol.
He said the participants would not be doing the usual dancing through the 12km routes along the street of Calabar as done in past years.
He added that the Governor of the State, Ben Ayade, would unveil the theme of this year’s Carnival on 29th November.
He noted that he has contacted the band leaders to be part of the meeting on 29th November, and they have decided to host the festival inside the stadium “because we are serious about enforcing COVID-19 protocols.”
He stated that the stadium would help control the crowd and space seating arrangement to watch live.
He assured me that it was going to be a fun-filled moment as usual and reiterated that “Calabar Carnival will hold this year.”