Yeni Kuti, daughter of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, has blamed paucity of funds and lack of adequate sponsors for the moderate celebration of the 2018 Felabration.
The annual celebration of the life and time of the Afrobeat legend is currently ongoing at the Afrika Shrine in Lagos.
The weeklong programme began on Monday, October 15 and will run till Sunday, October 21.
Unlike the elaborate 2017 edition which incorporated the 20th memorial of Fela’s death, the 2018 edition which coincides with his 80th posthumous has been rather low-key.
Yeni, however, said that has not affected the success of the programme.
“This year’s edition has been awesome, despite the fact that we got few sponsors.
“Felabration is celebrated in over 20 nations of the world as we speak,” she said in an interview with NAN on Wednesday.
The 57-year-old, nevertheless, advised Nigerians to emulate her father’s pursuit of unity for national development.
She said that the major problems of the nation, which were ethnicity, religious bigotry and politics, could be subsumed if the spirit of unity is in play the lives of the citizenry.
According to her, this was emphasised by Fela in music, which she urged all to listen to.
She said Fela’s song entitled ‘Water no get Enemy’, in a subtle and proverbial manner, through thought-provoking lyrics, preached harmony and unity across humans, with nature as his metaphor.
“When we consciously pursue unity as a country, we will discover that issues of ethnicity, religious bigotry and politics that divide us will no longer do.
“As a nation, we must work in unity to achieve our collective goals.
“We must all see ourselves as Nigerians, regardless of our ethnic group, political bias or religion,” she said.
