December 13, 2021 0
Trainee – GATT (Jun 01 – 04, 2021)
Watch clips of Adams Nora experience at #GogeAfricaTourismTraining
Building tomorrow's leaders today
Building tomorrow's leaders today
Trainee – GATT (Jun 01 – 04, 2021)
Watch clips of Adams Nora experience at #GogeAfricaTourismTraining
On Friday, February 21, 2025, Goge Africa Foundation, in partnership with Providus Bank, hosted the Cultural Dance Schools Competition Prize Presentation Ceremony at their Lekki branch in Lagos. This also happened to be International Mother Language Day which was the perfect opportunity to celebrate our rich cultural heritage while recognizing the amazing young talents who brought their traditions to life through dance.
The event was graced by officials from Providus Bank, including Ms. Ayoyinka Falade (Event Officer, Brands and Corporate Communications) and Ms. Omotayo Idowu (Head of Commerce and SME).
We also had the presence of distinguished guests such as Mr. Idris Aregbe, The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture and Mr. Tijani Babatunde of Rite Foods, who supported the event with their refreshments.
The Cultural Dance Schools Competition was first held during the Goge Africa Festival in October 2024, as Goge Africa celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Twenty-One (21) schools participated, however, only five (5) made it to the final list.
According to Mrs. Chinwe Abana, Coordinator of Schools for Goge Africa Foundation, the students brought so much passion and creativity to the stage. She highlighted two standout performances: the Zulu dance by the first-place winner and the energetic Igbo Atilogwu dance, which kept the audience on their feet.
At the prize presentation ceremony, Mr. Idris Aregbe and Ms. Omotayo Idowu did the honours of presenting the prize cheques to the winners. Here is the list of the five (5) winners:
Amb. Metche Isaac Moses, CEO of Goge Africa, encouraged students to take pride in their heritage, highlighting the competition as a platform for young creatives to showcase their talents.
Mr. Idris Aregbe commended Goge Africa for its dedication to cultural empowerment, reaffirming the Lagos State government’s commitment to supporting creative initiatives.
Mr. Tijani Babatunde, a strong advocate for indigenous languages, emphasized the importance of preserving and promoting mother tongues, encouraging the younger generation to speak their native languages with pride.
In celebration of International Mother Language Day, attendees recorded short videos speaking their mother tongues, which were later shared on Goge Africa’s social media platforms to further promote linguistic and cultural diversity. Watch some videos via Goge Africa Instagram Page HERE.
The event concluded with a heartfelt vote of thanks from Mrs. Chinwe Abana, who expressed gratitude to the participating schools, sponsors, and dignitaries for their contributions and support in making the ceremony a success.
This event was more than just an prize presentation ceremony – it was a celebration of culture, creativity, and the power of preserving our heritage. The fact that it happened on International Mother Language Day made it even more special, reminding us why we need to continue telling our stories through language, dance, and tradition.
A huge thank you to Providus Bank, Rite Foods, Lagos State Government, and everyone who made this possible. We’re excited to grow this initiative and create even more opportunities for young cultural ambassadors in the future.
30th june 2011 was a great day in lagos as secondary school students from within and outside the state witnessed the 6th edition of goge africa foundation’s annual career guidance & counseling seminar which was held at National Arts theatre, in Iganmu.
Despite the rain and heavy traffic the students, their teachers, and the guest all had an awesome experience as they participated in a career session. Speakers and their topics were: I.T. by Victor Diali of Motivo International Limited, Accountability from the general manager of Samsung West Africa, Mr. Yakubu Hussein, Tolerance from the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Ahmed Bahaa Eldin, reading culture from Ijeoma Richards, and entrepreneurship from Anwuli Odowu of Fate Foundation.
The highlight of the seminar was during the Q&A session when the students were excited as they were given fabulous gifts from answering questions from the guest speakers. refreshements was provided for the children and they also had the opportunity to interact and have photo sessions with the guest speakers, and the brand ambassadors of Goge Africa Nneka & Metche Isaac Moses .
The seminar was supported by National Theatre, CBBAC, Junior Achievement, Amila Fmcl, Unilever, Fresh Dew Foods ,GTBank, Onward Papermills, Nipen BIC, Sweetco , Omatek, Samsung, 5d Images, Kachifo Books, Golden Noodles, Rite Foods, Next , ZMirage, Nutricima, Evans Medical PLC, Powerhorse, Fate Foundation, AIESEC, and Box It, as many showcased their products and even sold some to students and other guests. The hall was decorated by Adex Events, and the guests were entertained by Tomiwa Adelaja, Fine Boy, Rybeka College, Otugure Adenike Oluwatosin and Dj moe, also people of the press made a presence.
Goge Africa Foundation was established in 2004 to educate African youth on their culture and history. Goge Africa Foundation is a division of Goge Africa, Nigeria’s foremost culture and Tourism Company.
The 6th cultural day celebration and Nigerian independence party of Lagooz schools was held on Friday, 30th of September, 2011 at their school’s premises in Agege, Lagos. To celebrate Nigeria’s 51st Independence, the students had a clearer picture of Nigeria before and after her independence in 1960. One way used to elucidate this point was the information on different cultural practices in Nigeria through art, drama and dance.
The staff and students of Lagooz Schools were costumed in colorful attires depicting some of the different ethnic groups in Nigeria .i.e. Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Igala, Nupe, Igbiria, Esan, Edo, Itshekiri, Urhobo, Ibibio, Efik etc. The event kicked off with an opening prayer by Pastor (Mrs.) Adeoti and the students recited the National and Lagooz Anthems respectively.
The master of ceremony and head of the organizing committee Mr. Lawal Ismaila addressed and welcomed the children, and the principal Mrs. E.O. Otubela gave the opening speech. Kazeem Balogun from The Tourism and Culture Magazine made a presentation on tourism and its importance through a detailed activity of pre-colonial Nigeria, colonial masters and their tenures, the military rule, the civilian regime, and Nigeria’s struggling democracy. In this way, the magazine is in line with Goge Africa Foundation’s initiative to capitalize on the gains of Nigeria’s freedom in building a brighter future for Africa’s Youths.
The Hausa troupe made a show of the Fulani culture – females dressed in knitted fabric sewn as ‘blouse’ and a wrapper tied around their waist with a Calabash. Males had the same knitted Fabric as the females but with sewn trousers while holding a thin stick on the shoulders behind their necks to mimic cattle rearers.
The Igbo Cultural Troupe entertained the audience with their different styles of dance, while their bodies were adorned colorful wrappers of yellow and red, and their legs with beads that made interesting sounds as they stamped their feet on the ground.
The Yoruba cultural troupe had a traditional display of their indigenous fashion called “aso oke’’ – the females wore the “Iro and Buba’’ while the males wore “buba and sokoto’’. A lecture on the Origin of the Yoruba people was given by the coordinator, who provided deep insights on the creation of the Yoruba people, how the children of Oduduwa separated into different parts of West Nigeria, and how they migrated and formed the 7 clans they represent today. In lieu of this, a Bata dance performance was presented.
To end the celebration, there was a Drama presentation with a title, “Nigeria’s Unity’’ demonstrating to us Nigeria’s need for love, care, peace and unity.
Goge Africa Foundation (GAF) played host to students of Rybeka College Apapa and Army Cantonment College Ikeja on Tuesday 7th of September 2011 at her Art & Cultural Centre in Goge Africa’s Head Office in Lagos, to commensurate her annual gift day.
As part of GAF’s mission, every summer two Secondary Schools are randomly selected to engage some of their students in a counseling session enlightening them on choices in their Career and Education. These students are encouraged to share their experiences with the Forum, as we believe this fosters positive interaction among young adults. We further educate them about African Arts and Culture, and read books from GAF’s library.
The students from Rybeka College Apapa and Army Cantonment College Ikeja particularly enjoyed a Guidance & Counseling session discussing future careers, time management, peer pressure, mentorship and other factors affecting teenagers in Africa. In lieu of this, they shared their challenges and celebrated their triumphs.
The day ended with a Photograph Session with the Goge Africa Foundation team and our Brand Ambassadors for Goge Africa – Isaac and Nneka Moses. In the end, you could sense their excitement as they clutched gifts, souvenirs, and stationaries for the new school year, on their way out of our Arts & Cultural Centre.
Goge Africa Foundation in partnership with Pelican Post a UK based Educational Foundation played host to 20 children from Kudub Primary School Book in Lagos State, Nigeria. Pelican Post is a new postal service that aims to inspire young minds in Africa by creating an avenue for people to donate books to children in Africa, stimulating a culture of reading in them.
22nd of August 2011 was a fun filled day as the children received books from the co-director of Pelican Post, Mr. Tunji Akinsehinwa, who arrived in Nigeria on the 8th of August 2011 with 44 copies of Alexander Mccall Smith’s “Akimbo and The Elephants”. There was also an interactive Session, where the children laughed and asked questions as they read their new books out loud with glee.
This event marks the beginning of an initiative between GAF and Pelican Post to develop and encourage a healthy reading habit amongst Nigerian children, as knowledge is the key to our National Development. Through this partnership with Pelican Post we also aim to generate feedback from Nigerian schools on how their students assimilate books, their literary interest level and novel concerns about reading. There were photo sessions with the brand Ambassadors of Goge Africa – Nneka and Isaac Moses; and copies of these life-long images will be sent to their children for their own Journals.
The University of California Santa Cruz in May 2009 invited Goge Africa’s host and hostess to be part of Porter College student and lecturers series. Metche and Nneka were on campus for a week of activities with the students & other lecturers. They made presentations on African visual arts and cultures, screened a special episode of Goge Africa and organized/hosted a mini Nollywood festival.
Check out this web link;
http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/text.asp?pid=2936&src=email
At the end, most of the students’ questions were answered and a great urge to visit Africa was ignited. This shows that the depth of research conducted by Goge Africa team has not gone unnoticed by the academic community! Goge Africa is grateful to UCSC for the invitation and the following for their support; Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Africa Independent Television (AIT), Center For Black And African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC), Mr. CY Okonkwo and Goge Africa Foundation (GAF).