No fewer than 15 million people across the globe will watch the main event of this year’s Calabar carnival 2023 on Thursday, as the event is set for global coverage and transmitting live on DSTV.
This was disclosed to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by the Commissioner for Information in Cross River, Erasmus Ekpang.
He further said that hundreds of visitors are already in the state for the main event, tagged: “Carnival Calabar.”
Ekpang, who described the 20th edition of the carnival as a huge success, said the state is already overcrowded as of Tuesday when the cultural event part of the annual carnival was held.
“We are truly excited with what we have seen so far and we know that it will only get better.
“As I speak with you, hotels in Calabar are fully booked such that visitors have to be sleeping in people’s houses.
“We had three visitors from Mali who are presently staying with a friend of mine because there is no hotel space. Only those visitors that booked their hotels in advance are smiling now,” he stated.
On the carnival sponsorship, the Commissioner said that some banks and DSTV are working in partnership with the state government.
NAN reported that the state government introduced some new dimension into this year’s edition of the carnival which started in 2004.
