Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has restated his government’s commitment to promoting creativity by the youths.
Governor Ugwuanyi, who gave the assurance during the grand finale of the 2022 Edition of Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) Art Exhibition, said an enabling environment must be created for the youths to thrive.
He assured youths in the State of his government’s commitment to uplifting their creativity, skill and talent through various platforms existing in the State.
The event was held at the International Conference Center, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu.
The theme of this year’s edition is: “Paradox of Muted Echoes,” which, interpretatively, means that things may not be as they seem or appear on the surface.
The Governor, represented on the occasion by the Enugu State Commissioner for Lands, Chief Chidi Aroh, said that the State government would continue to give hope to the youths by supporting their creativity, talent, skill and zeal to bring out the best in them.
He said: “As a government, we will continue to create an enabling environment for creativity of our youths to be heard and seen clearly and sustain our support for various platforms in this direction.
“I must appreciate the efforts of the board of trustees and organisers of the Life in my City Arts Festival, who have nurtured this festival even till this day, and to all the sponsors who have also invested in this. It is great that we are sending messages to the world through expressions of art.
“In Enugu State, we firmly believe that in all our difficulties as a nation, the greatest message we must give to the youths is the message of hope, strengthened by our determination to continue to create a platform for hope, and an enabling environment for the youths to thrive,” he said.
In his speech, which was delivered through visual platform, the traditional ruler of Onitsha in Anambra State, the Obi-of-Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, advised youths in the country to be hard working and be determined to get to the zenith of anything they had passion for, as “there lies the future for you.”
Igwe Achebe, who is one of the two patrons of LIMCAF, expressed gratitude to the sponsors for sustaining the festival and “making it a global brand notwithstanding its very humble beginning.”
He said: “LIMCAF Art Festival within 16 years has grown to become the largest and highest running art festival in the country collecting hundreds of art works yearly. It is time to take and expand LIMCAF beyond Nigeria to an African scope and magnitude.”
Also in his remark, the Chairman of the LIMCAF Board of Trustees, Elder Kalu U. Kalu, said that LIMCAF was able to send overall winners in its past 16 editions for an African art exhibition in Dakar, Senegal to get exposure and learn more about art.
According to Elder Kalu, for this year’s edition, a total of 270 art entries were received from eight zonal/regional centres throughout the country. He said: “We follow up on the career development of our youths, especially those that have won various categories of awards as well as our yearly overall winners.
“Hundreds of youths have found livelihood through arts, some have become international artists while others have discovered themselves by participating in this festival, which indicates that our investment is yielding fruits.”
Also speaking at the event, LIMCAF Art Director, Dr Ayo Adewunmi said, “The theme suggests that things may not always be the way they are perceived. It also seems to suggest that sometimes, silence being a vital part of sound, may be a potent device, to enable us to hear from within, but it still presents a paradox.”
Following the successful regional exhibitions across eight States in the country, where the top 100 artworks were selected, the artworks of 25 artists made it to the winning spot.
