We are just wondering where you were if you weren’t at any of these major highlights.

Bole Festival     

The 2018 Bole Festival, tagged the reunion, held at the Obi Wali Cultural Center, on Saturday the 4th of August 2018 was Port Harcourt’s contribution to the culture. A celebration of the staple street delicacy, Bole, the umbrella term for the meal of roasted plantain, with or without yam and fish with special sauce, the Bole festival is an annual food fair aimed at promoting and showcasing rich and unique preparations of roasted indigenous delicacies. This second edition had about 6000 food lovers trooping in to enjoy the goodness of Bole.

Concert Season

December in Lagos is a sensory overload of music concerts and events designed to give fun seekers the best of times. Simi, Wizkid, Wande Coal and Mayorkun have already hosted live concerts this month. But that’s just the beginning. Still to come? Davido, Burna Boy, Olamide and Show Dem Camp. Then there are holiday staples like Rhythm Unplugged, Afropolitan Vibes and Nativeland. How is a merry party goer to cope?

Dangote- Abubakar Wedding

The high society wedding between billionaire daughter Fatima Dangote and Jamil Abubakar, son of a former Inspector General of Police wasn’t just talk of the town, it was the town itself, and then some. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates arranged his schedule around the wedding, so did Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and every other person who is anybody. For pop culture moments, the wedding gave us the viral picture of the table that could never be shaken and a video of Davido’s uncle Senator Adeleke singing along to the hit, Money.

The Experience

Nigeria is a religious country. So it comes as no surprise that the biggest social event in the country is a religious one. For the thirteenth year in a row, The Experience, put together by Pastor Paul Adefarasin of the House on the Rock cathedral invited leading ministers and singers from all over the world- Kirk Franklin, Don Moen, Chioma Jesus- to deliver the message of the Gospel to a record number of worshippers. This year’s, themed Jesus Our Peace was held on 7, December 2018.

Lagos Fashion Week

Lagos Fashion Week is the ultimate fashion party, a fashion platform that brings together buyers, consumers and the media to gaze on latest collections from designers from home and abroad. Sponsored by Heineken, the leading fashion event in West Africa through events like Fashion Focus Africa and the Creative Lounge helps strengthen the fashion industry. The Lagos Fashion Week was followed shortly by the GTB fashion weekend, a consumer focused fashion exhibition and capacity building event that aims to promote enterprise within the fast growing Nigerian fashion industry.

The Future Awards Africa’s night of inspiration

Described by Forbes as the “Most important awards for outstanding young Africans,” The Future Awards Africa honors outstanding achievements recorded by young persons across the country. Bolanle Olukanni and Tobi Bakre were hosts of a high profile event that rewarded names such as Samson Itodo, Simi, Zainab Balogun and Mark Angel. Obiagaeli Ezekwesili, Kingsley Muoghalu, Fela Duratoye were present to send short charges to fire up the youth.

Guinness Flavour Room                       

Mixing art with entertainment and product showcase, Guinness unveiled the Flavour Rooms from 29th November to 1st December in Lagos. The Guinness Flavour Rooms, a multi-sensory area that presents consumers with the chance to explore the many dimensions of flavours in the Guinness packaging. English football legend Rio Ferdinand made an appearance and superstars Olamide and Burna Boy thrilled fans at the end of the experience.

Kano Durbar

From Sokoto to Ilorin, Katsina to Bida the annual Durbar festival is celebrated in several states in the North to mark the end of the Eid el-Fitr celebrations. In June this year, the Kano Hawan Durbar was a fabulous display of pomp and pageantry. Every detail was present. Procession of horsemen, acrobats, musicians parade, purple turbans and metallic swords glistening. The celebration began with prayers, followed by a parade of Emir Sanusi and his entourage on horses, accompanied by musicians, and ending at the Emir’s palace.

Lagos Art Season

The Lagos art season is a multi-month long stretch of events- including but not limited to ART X, Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos Book and Art Festival, Art Summit, Ake Arts and Books Festival, Lagos Fringe, the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Lagos International Poetry festival, Infinite Treasures. A heaven for arts lovers, the season usually starting in October and lasting through December is an overload of art, movies, drama, books and pure escapism.

Macron at the shrine

On his first official visit to Nigeria, French President, Emmanuel Macron met with Muhammadu Buhari but no one was talking about that meeting the next day. All of the media attention was on Macron’s conspicuous trip to New Afrika Shrine, the famous concert and recreation venue run by the family of the Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Macron launched the Season of African Cultures 2020, a French celebration of Africa’s rich and diverse cultures and was entertained by Nigeria’s biggest music and movie stars.

The writer tweets from @drwill20