Yeni Kuti, co-manager of the New Afrika Shrine and eldest daughter of the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has restated that the annual Felabration festival remains one of Nigeria’s most effective platforms for showcasing the country’s culture to the world, even as she unveiled the full schedule of activities for this year’s edition.

Speaking during an interview in Lagos ahead of the festival, Kuti said the week-long event, which she conceived in 1998 in memory of her father, would run from October 12 to October 18, and would once again bring together music, art, dance and public debate centred on the Afrobeat pioneer’s legacy.

According to her, the build-up to the main festival begins on October 1 with an art competition at the Kalakuta Museum, the late singer’s former Lagos residence that now serves as a museum dedicated to his life and work. This will be followed on October 3 by a dance competition at the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, the venue that has hosted Felabration for decades.

A secondary schools debate, a fixture of the festival that engages young Nigerians with social and political themes drawn from Fela’s music, is scheduled for October 7. Days later, on October 10, the “Dress Fela” fashion show will hold, giving attendees the chance to reinterpret the singer’s signature style ahead of the main festival’s opening.

Kuti noted that Felabration has continued to draw a steady stream of visitors from outside Nigeria, particularly people of African descent in the diaspora, to the New Afrika Shrine. She described this as a positive development, saying the presence of international visitors at the festival gives Nigeria an avenue to project its culture to a global audience.

Since its founding in 1998, Felabration has grown from a modest family tribute into one of Nigeria’s most recognised annual festivals, blending music, dance, art and fashion in celebration of Fela Kuti’s life.

The Lagos State Government recognises the event as an official tourist attraction, pointing to its role in projecting the state’s cultural profile abroad. Over the years, the festival has attracted a mix of Nigerian and international performers, along with large crowds who travel to Lagos specifically for the week-long celebration.

Fela Kuti, who pioneered the Afrobeat genre and was known for his outspoken activism against military rule and social injustice in Nigeria, died in 1997. His children, Yeni, Femi and Seun, have since continued to manage his legacy through the New Afrika Shrine and Felabration, which is timed to the week of his birthday, October 15.