BusinessDay 24 Aug 2018

30 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Friday 24 August 2018
BUSINESS SOUTH-SOUTH
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF SOUTH-SOUTH / SOUTH-EAST
Abia Poly celebrates Nigeria’s culture,
through food, music, dance
…as institution holds 12th cultural festival
GODFREY OFURUM, Aba
Federation of Ngwa Students
(FENS) emerged
winners of the 2018 edition
of the Abia State
Polytechnic, Aba Cultural
Festival, an annual event that
showcases Nigeria’s rich cultural
heritage. They were closely followed
by Anambra/ Enugu Students Association,
while Bayelsa Students
Association emerged third.
The annual event, which brings
the student’s week to a close, affords
the students and staff of the institution
an opportunity to showcase the
cultural heritage of their different
ethnic nationalities.
Abia State Polytechnic is a multiethnic
institution; consequently,
the event has become an important
programme in the calendar of the
institution, which the students and
management relish.
It has the trapping of the Calabar
and Abuja carnivals; and this year’s
event lived up to its billing, as the
students, staff and friends of the institution,
were fully clad in their different
local attires, showcasing the
rich culture of their different ethnic
nationalities that make up Nigeria.
Ezionye Eboh, a professor and
acting rector of the institution, who
was the chief host of the event,
explained that the Polytechnic community
was celebrating its being
and culture.
According to him, “Today in
Abia State Polytechnic, we are
displaying the cultural rainbow of
different States and tribes of our
country, Nigeria. We are celebrating
our being and our culture. This day
Champion Breweries rewards distributors
ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo
Champion Breweries Plc,
Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
has rewarded its major
distributors as part of efforts
to spur them and ensure it
captures a greater share of
the market for the company’s
products.
More than 10 major distributors
drawn from Uyo, Calabar
and Aba districts went home
with over 1,000 crates of Champion
Beer and Champ Malta,
among other items.
In addition, the highest
total combined volume winner,
Ini Francois Ventures got
two Champion tricycle machines,
while the first runnerup,
Chinonso Uba Ventures
went home with one tricycle
machine to help in distributing
the products to customers and
consumers.
At the event, which was also
A cross-section of Bayelsa State students at Abia Poly
classroom activities must rest. Our
friends are to be feasted with glittering
spectacles that will fill their
beings and show that we are serious
with academics, no doubt, but that
we do find time to play, dance and
celebrate.”
He however urged the students
not to be carried away by the thrills
of the carnival, by going back to their
classrooms to pursue their primary
objective in the institution, saying,
“We would have had sufficient rest
and captured new energy to drive
the academic year to successful
conclusion”.
He thanked all guests, students,
meant to launch the rebranded
Champion Beer, Patrick Ejidoh,
managing director of the
company, expressed gratitude
to the distributors for standing
with the company through thick
and thin.
He said: “It is on record that
we have had some of the most
loyal and committed distributors
and customers. That is why
we design a day like this to say
thank you.”
Ejidoh said the rebranded
Champion Beer and Champ
Malta have been brewed to
meet the globally acceptable
standard since the Heineken
group took over majority shares
of the company.
According to him, Champion
Breweries today is managed by
a group of professionals from
the Nigerian Breweries to ensure
a complete turnaround of
the products. He said a new
Champion Breweries bottle was
launched in June this year, with
judges, the dean and staff of student’s
affairs division, who packaged
this event, staff of public relations office
for giving the pavilion-the venue
of the event, a befitting look and the
various units and directorates that
worked harmoniously to deliver the
beautiful event.
Chris Nkoro, dean, Students Affairs,
Abia State Polytechnic in an
interview with BusinessDay, attributed
the success of this year’s event
to synergy between the student
affairs department, the organizing
committee and the participating
associations.
According to him, “for this year’s
a premium quality beer into the
market as part of the rebranding
exercise.
The MD, who also described
the company’s Champ Malta as
a food drink for nourishment
disclosed that the product “is
now the leading malt drink in
the country.”
He announced that over 60
additional tricycles would be
launched and distributed to
enable distributors take them to
rural areas to adequately serve
the customers and consumers.
One of the distributors who
spoke with BusinessDay after
the event, expressed deep gratitude
to the brewing company
for the various gift items presented
to them to boost their
morale.
They assured the management
of their resolve to redouble
their efforts to ensure the
progress and prosperity of the
company through aggressive
sales of the products.
event, we excluded masquerades
and then told ourselves that we have
to be better organized, so that we
can use singing, dancing, attire and
our various languages to showcase
our cultures.
“Whether you are Hausa, Igbo,
Yoruba, Izon, Ibibio or Efik, among
other tribes, you must bring what
you have in your own language and
in your own way, to show that we are
the same people,” Nkoro said.
Speaking on the theme of the
2018 event, “Culture as a Tool for
Lasting Peace,” Nkoro observed that
there is no culture in the world that
teaches killing or violence. It is all
Roasted yam, an Igbo traditional food
Cross-section of Igbo students, Abia Poly
peace. I am happy that irrespective
of the rain, we still had an enjoyable
moment.”
He thanked the Abia State government,
corporate organizations,
especially 7UP Bottling Company,
and the media for their support; and
promised a more vibrant celebration
in 2019.
Stella Nwakanma, desk officer/
chairman Abia Poly Cultural ceremony,
described culture as the most
durable fruit of the Black Race; and
more so, Nigerians. She explained
that Abia State Polytechnic Cultural
Festival was the best known cultural
carnival among higher institutions
in Nigeria and the most celebrated
programme in the community.
For Chinonso Alozie, president,
student union government, Abia
State Polytechnic, the cultural day
celebration breeds in the students
the spirit of unity and love, unity
to work together and live together
to make the country a better place
for all.
He urged the students to hold on
to their culture, stressing that culture
is of great value to a people.
“Under no circumstance should
anyone abandon his or her culture,
because doing so, will amount to the
person abandoning him or herself’.
He also appealed to the youths
to protect the good aspects of their
culture and do away with negative
aspects, especially those that infringes
on the rights of citizens.
In his words, “Culture is not static;
it changes as the society evolves.
So, let us not to be prisoners of our
culture”.
This year’s event, the 12th in the
series, held on Friday, August 10,
2018, at the institution’s pavilion.