Vine Shield Limited, organisers of the prestigious Igbo Awards and Lolo Igbo Cultural Pageant have outlined venues where different events heralding the 2017 Igbo Awards will take place.

The company has also formed the Igbo Awards Organising Committee, as well as released names of nominees for the 2017 Awards.

The 2017 camping for Lolo Igbo Cultural Pageant will be held at Maria Island Resort, Ndibe Beach Road, Afikpo.

The mega resort facility was donated by Honourable Maria Ude Nwachi, popularly known as Afikpo Chic, to Igbo Awards as a show of support for Igbo culture and nation. The lawmaker representing Afikpo North state constituency at the Ebonyi State House of Assembly will also feature as one of the facilitators for the 10 day camping programme.

Nwachi, who is a hardcore Igboist, is also the coordinator of the popular Igboist Facebook group that celebrates Igbo and Igboness.

The camping programme will feature activities including competitions, studies, recreation, and examination.

All camping activities will be held at the Maria Resort, Ndibe Beach, as well as Ogbu Edda hilltop community in Afikpo, a village overlooking Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Uwana.

Contestants will be privileged to appraise the serene Afikpo community by combining work with leisure, as they compete for grades.

Right by Maria Island Resort is the River Cross, across which villages in neighboring Cross River State could be seen.

The river is a rich source of fresh water fish, including the popular at fish, and the beach is a veritable market for fish sellers and plantain merchants. There are also restaurants around for one to eat freshly cooked fish pepper soup with palm wine.

Ndibe beach is also a money spinner for sand merchants, who harvests and from the river for sale. Under the beautiful palm trees are sand dunes collected by the harvesters while several tippers wait and fill up their buckets with sand.

Ogbu Edda, by the way, is a traditional garden of Eden, located on a hill. The community has been chosen for this particular contest because it will accord the contestants a real feel of the ideal Igbo community and communal lifestyle and customs.

Auditions for the selection of contestants will be held tentatively on October 19, at the Ofu Obi Africa Centre, Independence Layout, Enugu.

The grand finale of the event, the Igbo Awards, will be held on the November 24, 2017, at Victoria Hall, Summerhill Place, 20 Premier Layout, by New Artisan, Enugu – Port Harcourt Expressway, Enugu.

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