The International Committee of The All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has commended the African Union (AU) for the launch of a single, common electronic passport (e-Passport) for all Africans at the just concluded 27th AU Summit, in Kigali, Rwanda.
It also applauded the ultimate goal of the single passport which is set to realise the dream of visa-free travel for African citizens within the African continent by 2020.
In the same vein, the AU’s single, common electronic passport throughout the continent falls squarely within the framework of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development.
Reacting to this development, President/ Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada, said, “The African Union’s plan to allowing free movement of citizens within the African continent is a stepping stone towards building stronger unity among African nations and this is what we at the International Committee of AFRIMA have been canvassing and propagating for years in line with the AFRIMA’s vision.
“For us in AFRIMA, it is a strong step towards making every African citizen to think and act beyond national identities and identify themselves as citizens of the African continent with a sense of pride that, ‘I am an African.’
“We have found that it is easier to travel to Europe and America from Africa than Africans travelling within Africa. Yearly, we face a big hurdle in visa processing, direct flights and protocol to bring in over 880 nominees/superstars and their guests, 150 production crew members, international media and over 2000 international invited guests to the AFRIMA Awards ceremony annually.”
“The single passport will also ease and facilitate one of the AFRIMA objectives which is to engage all the stakeholders who are critical to the awards process to give them a platform for knowledge sharing and capacity-building on the continent. AFRIMA has embarked and organised stakeholders’ engagements and press conferences in over 25 African countries in the five regions of Africa. This we will do until we cover the 54 member states,” he concluded.
In partnership with the African Union Commission, AUC, The All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, is a continental music and cultural initiative developed to celebrate, reward and showcase the rich musical heritage of Africa, stimulate conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potential and values of the African culture and artistic legacy for the purpose of creating jobs, reducing poverty, calling attention of world leaders to Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world.
In line with the AFRIMA 3.0 calendar, submission of entries closes on July 30, 2016. There are 34 award categories open to music artistes, producers, video directors, songwriters and music/entertainment journalists as well as the hitherto unheralded music professionals. The spectacular 2016 awards ceremony will be hosted in Nigeria in November 4-6. This will be preceded by the AFRIMA Music Village and Africa Music Summit.
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