Standing amid the colours, music and choreography of Carnival Calabar’s 20th edition, Portugal’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Paulo Martins Santos, offers an outsider’s perspective shaped by centuries of shared history and years of living in Nigeria. From the children’s parade to reflections on global carnivals, cultural diversity and tourism potential, Santos speaks on what makes Carnival Calabar unique—and what it needs to claim its place on the world stage.
Except:
What is your name?
I am Paulo Martins Santos, the ambassador of Portugal in Nigeria.
Thus far, what is your impression of the Carnival Calabar?
Very good, because I already had the opportunity, even if I just arrived yesterday, I had the opportunity to go straight to the children’s festival. So the first lady was there and it was a beautiful parade. I thought it was like more, let’s say, just for really for children, but it was a very serious event, let’s say. So I was impressed by the quality of what we have seen yesterday. And I was told that, that was just the tip of the iceberg, so that many other things would be coming forward, like the Biker’s parade. So I am now looking forward to the Bikers Parade and the main event.
Do you have any culture shock coming to Calabar?
No.i have been living in Nigeria more than two years now. So there is no cultural shock whatsoever in traveling in this country. But again, I think I can tell that even when I arrived, we didn’t feel a big cultural shock. You know that Portugal and the African in general have a very long history, including Nigeria. We were the first European visiting this area. This happened more than 550 years ago. So of course, as you can imagine, after all this time, there’s a lot of shared experiences and shared history that makes Portuguese people really don’t feel much of a cultural shock whenever we come to Africa. Of course, in my case, having been living here more than two years, even less so. So let’s say that I got used to all the ‘Naija’ way of life and I feel very well in all corners of this country.
READ: Africa: Portugal’s Ambassador Hails Carnival Calabar, Calls for Stronger Global Promotion
In the few days you have spent, how can you assess the hospitality of the people?
So far, I mean, it can’t get any better than this. Again, I just arrived yesterday, but the opportunities that I have been given by the people here who have been hosting me and accompanying me are really interesting. I am already getting a good glimpse into what this city and what this state represents. Yesterday I also went briefly to Akwa Ibom State, so I already had even the opportunity to see a bit of the countryside of this country. So I already left the capital city. So, so far I am very impressed. It’s a beautiful place. Of course, the fact that it’s near the coast and the ocean, for us Portuguese, it’s always a big plus because we are maritime people. So I couldn’t feel better than what I’m feeling now, really.
This is the 20th edition of the Carnival Calabar. In what areas, or what do you think the government can do to make it more globally acceptable to the people?
So I know it’s now been 20 years. Let’s say it’s still relatively short time for a tradition like this. So of course it needs to, maybe some more years for the festival really to take hold globally and the people know about it. But what I can tell you is that I would recommend, yes, more of a global campaign so that people are more made aware of this. People are aware of the carnivals in Brazil, of course, first and foremost, very big events. Also some of the Caribbean festivals. But I think a lot of people, for instance, in Europe, they are not aware that this festival exists. So that would be my recommendation, to really try and make a sort of a global campaign to raise awareness that this festival exists and how good it is, and to see if we can attract also more of a global audience to it in the next editions.
Do you have anything in Portugal that is similar to this?
Oh yes, of course. Carnival in Portugal is a very big thing and that’s actually the reason why in Brazil it became so big. As you know, Brazil used to be part of the Portuguese expansion, let’s say. We were there for 300 years and it was mostly through us and our traditions that then the Brazilians made this big event, now even bigger, course, much bigger than what it is in Portugal. But in Portugal it’s, let’s say, the original uh carnival that we have been celebrating since the Roman Empire. The carnival is a really very, very old holiday in that part of Europe and it comes from the Roman Empire tradition. So it’s 2000 years old tradition, it’s very, very old.
In terms of culture as a tourism, what strikes you the most about Nigeria?
Diversity. think that’s the key word here. As I was telling you, I already had the opportunity to travel, I would say a lot, many, many states. I have been now to, by far, majority of the Nigerian states. And to me, the most attractive things in terms of culture is really this diversity of this country that makes each state and sometimes even regions within the states to be very unique. So whoever thinks that Nigeria is monolithic, that person is very wrong. There is a huge variety, a big palette, let’s say, of cultural manifestations here. And this is, of course, very much because of the structure of this country with all its different languages, religions, ethnicities. That’s, for me, the most beautiful thing about Nigeria and that it’s then reflected in its culture.
What is your best delicacy?
I like jollof rice. I really got used to it. I can’t live without it now. It’s true.
Are you recommending this to your fellow countrymen and is there a possibility of their participating here?
I will be telling them about this. We have a relatively big community of Portuguese people here. They are not so much in this part of the country with just maybe two or three exceptions. Because mostly they are up north building this new railway from Kano to Niger Republic. So that’s where I have a lot of people, but they are of course a bit far away from here. Then of course we have a big group in Lagos, but I will definitely tell them about this and recommend them to come next year.
Talking about Portugal now and the history with Carnival, looking at these and all that is going into it, what would be your recommendation on?
We usually keep the structures that we use for carnival that are really relevant in terms of symbolism and history we give them in museums. So most of it of course they are reused and recycled but if some structure is really symbolic and relevant we keep it in a museum.
