Monday September 29, 2025
By TheNewsDESK |
As the world marks World Tourism Day, organisers of the proposed Akwa Ibom Bantu Ekpang Kukwo carnival have projected a ₦30 billion food tourism marketplace in the state throughout the event.
The carnival program Coordinator, also known as the Akwa Ibom ChopKulture Festival, Hon Inemeh Etete Patty in a statement explained that from every pot of Ekpang and Kukwo, they are building futures in the state.
He added that the Akwa Ibom ChopKulture Festival is not just about celebrating what participants eat, but it’s about creating opportunities, restoring ecosystems, and uniting communities in the state.
“Food is our heritage, but now it is also our development strategy,” he stressed, adding the Carnival is anchored in a ₦30 billion heritage food tourism marketplace—a model that mobilizes tokens, restores ecosystems, empowers food entrepreneurs, and integrates cultural pride into systemic development.
He said that celebrating the culinary and cultural identity of 31 LGAs, 31 cultural tribes, and 31 “Chop My Heritage Pots”, it places Akwa Ibom’s diverse food traditions at the center of a vision that connects unity, humanitarian aid, creative economy expansion, and climate resilience.
He further stated that by mobilizing 3.1 million Foodmanitarian Kits, 3,100 ChopKulture Envoys, and 310,000 heritage tourism gift Cards, Akwa Ibom is proving that food is not only to be eaten or celebrated, but also to be invested in as an engine of prosperity, peace, and planetary care.
He stated that among benefits derivable from the carnival were 3.1 Million ChopKulture mobile tokens, delivering of food packs, mobile data, health wallets, eco-contributions, and gift cards for inclusive participation, atrengthening community wellness by embedding health access into the food tourism ecosystem and restoration of million trees and mangroves through the Chop2Green Akwa Ibom Fund, connecting every token to ecosystem regeneration.
Victor Wilkinson Agih, Global Culture Diplomacy Expert and Convener of Culture Money Africa while welcoming the initiative acknowledged that food is culture’s first economy, and Akwa Ibom is proving it can also be its future.
He added that with the Bantu Ekpang! Kukwo Carnival, food becomes more than a meal—it becomes currency for prosperity, peace, and planet. This is culture money at work.
Agih argued that the Bantu Ekpang! Kukwo Carnival is more than a celebration as it is the blueprint for Akwa Ibom’s Heritage Food Economy Strategy, embedding cultural identity into the systems of governance, investment, climate action, and humanitarian response.
Aligned with the World Tourism Day agenda of sustainability, inclusion, and transformation, he contended that with the carnival, Akwa Ibom is demonstrating that food is not only to be savored, but also to be scaled as a driver of prosperity.
