By Anozie Egole

ABEOKUTA—Former president of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has described All Africa Music Award, AFRIMA, as a unifier of Africa.

Olusegun Obasanjo

The former president said this during the week when, African Union Commission, AUC, and The International Committee of AFRIMA, organizers of the annual event paid him a courtesy visit at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun state as part of the build up for this year’s edition of the award.

Obasanjo who commended AFRIMA and AUC for unifying Africa through music, said music was part of African culture. He also reiterated the need for music and culture to be commercialized in order to create jobs and reduce poverty among African youths.

Speaking during the visit, the former president said: “I implore AFRIMA and AUC not to relent in achieving their objectives. I am also using this opportunity to call on brands and governments in Africa to partner with AFRIMA. As a president, I recalled that we had similar projects like, All African Games (COJA 2003) and Festival of Art and Culture in Africa (FESTAC ’77) as platforms for promoting African culture and unity that require huge resources to organize. I am also very grateful to AFRIMA for honouring me with their visit,” he said.

Also in his opening remark, the President and Executive Producer of AFRIMA, Mr. Mike Dada said, “The meeting and visit was in recognition of Olusegun Obasanjo as the former Chairperson of the African Union, AU, from July 2004 to January 2006″.

He is an African global icon, a cultural enthusiast and champion of African renaissance. The objective of AFRIMA is to unite Africans through instrumentality of arts, music, culture and entertainment as well as promote and reward upcoming and established talents on the continent. It remains steadfast to the AUC’s values of promoting African unity and celebrating cultural uniqueness. We are also thanking the former president for receiving AFRIMA team at his residence and we are specially inviting you to the 2016 AFRIMA schedule to hold in November”. he said.