EVENTS FOR PROMOTING UNITY AND UNDERSTANDING.Abstract

This paper seeks to explore events tourism as an instrument forpromoting peace, unity and understanding among people ofdifferent social strata and diverse socio-cultural background inthe society. The historical evolution of the event industrystarting from the ancient era to the contemporary society, eventtypologies, events as panacea for unity and understanding werediscussed; with a critical comparative analysis of Abuja carnivaland Rio de janairo carnival. A brief historical biography ofOlympic Games was employed to further unravel the place of megaevents such as FIFA World Cup, Commonwealth games and CAF infostering unity and understanding within global domain, a localcase scenario was also cited. Liminality and communitas conceptswere also discussed to elucidate the role of event staging infostering unity within local scene. Qualitative research methodwas used in gathering data for this paper which include interviewand observation. The paper discovered that, event irrespective ofits scale, content and context contains the gem to trigger andsustain unity in any given society.

Key Words. Peace, unity, tourism, event, sport, culture, carnival, communitas and liminality

INTRODUCTION

Right from time immemorial, event has been envisaged as apowerful tool for fostering unity and understanding among peopleof different cultural background and social status. Though, eventfrom its infancy stage of evolution may not have been seen as aneconomic activity, but its social and cultural impacts inintegrating and uniting communities and nations remained anundeniable social paradigm. A glimpse into some historic andcontemporary events, planned or unplanned will help ininvestigating some of the pivotal roles of the event industry inpromoting unity and understanding in our contemporary society.

Events have been a part of human civilization since ancienttimes. They have marked changing seasons, heralded theappointment of new leaders, celebrated religious rites andrituals and also signified birth and death’ (Ferdinand & Kitchin,2012). Event is currently an integral part of contemporarysocieties. History has shown that events have provided meaningand structure to daily life. It’s a common knowledge today thatevents have practically dominated all spheres of leisure activitysuch as sport, cultural pursuits and tourism. (Richards cited byFerdinand & Kitchin 2012) observes that, contemporary communities

and organization throughout the world all seems to share a commoncompulsion to organize events.

Tourism is a global business that brings people from all works oflife together, encourages people to learn each other’s cultureand way of life thereby embracing the connectedness of all peopleand things. It brings both hosts and guests together.(http://www.tourismforpeace.org/)

Event, irrespective of its scale and typology, have been provedto be an instrument and a catalyst for enhancing unity andpromoting understanding among nationals of a given nation orwithin global domain. Before going into analysis of eventtypologies and their impact, it will be a wise idea to provide aclear understanding of what event is and what it means to peopleand possibly glimpse into the evolution of the event industry asa new economic and social phenomenon. (Ferdinand & Kitchin, 2012)

“Event is a way of reconnecting with home land heritage” (Ferdinand & Kitchin2008:10). It provides opportunity for people especiallyimmigrants in foreign land or residents of settler communities toreconnect with their home land heritage for example; Chinesepeople residing in Newcastle China town organizing Chinese newyear festival, it bring a sense of reconnection with the cultureand heritage of China among Chinese people. Similarly, Abujacarnival does attract Nigerians in Diaspora to travel home tocelebrate and reconnect with home land culture and heritage aswell as re-establishing friendship through interactions andreunion among their people. In the same way the masquerade fiestain Rio de Janeiro carnival is believed to be a celebration ofAfrican culture and also a way of reconnecting with home landheritage by the African-Brazilians; a mark of remembrance oftheir root. Such event will go a long way in fostering unity andunderstanding among attendees of the event and their hostcommunity. The same is said to be true of the Caribbean and SouthAmerica where majority of the people were believed to come from

other continents such as Africa, Europe and Asia. Event can alsobe defined as “Public assembly for the purpose of celebration,education, marketing or reunion”(http://www.eventeducation.com/what). “Throughout history, people bothancient and modern have felt the need to mark particular dates and times with manykinds of ceremonies or celebrations” (Thomas et al 2009:3). Human historyhas been characterized by celebrations of different kinds ofevents ranging from weddings, birthdays, naming ceremonies,religious, cultural, hallmark and mega events of internationalreputation and composition. “Celebration is rooted in long-standing religious,cultural and ritual traditions” (Goldblatt 2008:6). Going by theassertion of Goldblatt (2008) celebration is inherent in humanbeings, it forms part and parcel of human life without whichhuman beings will not feel satisfied in life. He furtheradvanced, that celebration is “perhaps even more vital to the sustenance ofthe human spirit than the physical need of food, clothing and shelter” (Goldblattcited by Thomas et al 2009:3), this implies that, the importanceof event has gone beyond social, psychological and economic tospiritual. As humans developed and sought for the best way tocelebrate their achievements and successes in life they developeddifferent type of events to mark seasons of celebration. Someevents have local or domestic contents such as birthday, wedding,community festival, cultural carnival while some events haveglobal outlook and international contents for example OlympicGames, FIFA world cup, still other events have regional contentslike the UEFA, COPA America, CAF and Asian confederation cup, allthese fall into the categorization of sporting events. Theseevents regardless of their typology and composition are allgeared toward family, community, national, regional andinternational integration, unity and understanding. On the longrun it will promote a sense of togetherness and global onenessand also bring about economic development which is also vital toglobal peace. In advancing this article we will try as much aspossible to write more on the positive impact of event tourism as

the topic has to do with unity and understanding among people ofdiverse cultural background.

EVENTS AS PANACEA FOR UNITY AND UNDERSTANDING

Cultural theory is fundamental in examining and exploring majorcelebratory events that take place in our modern society as aconsolidating tool for building, energizing and reconnecting thecommunity’s social joints and bones. This also helps to form aformidable, coherent and vibrant society that will speak with onevoice as a united entity. The creation of social space in thesociety is another visible creation of event in any givencommunity, Storey (2009).

Cooper et al (2008:206) believes that “the cultural exchange thattakes place between tourists and local residents can help fosterpeace between communities” this peaceful togetherness is afunction of unity and understanding among guests and hosts thathas been occasioned by touristic engagement such as cultural,sporting, social and business events.

Looking closely at one of the greatest importance of event, suchas the ancient Olympic event to the ancient Greeks, one will cometo term with the fact that event can be used as a diplomatic toolto foster unity and understanding among various communities orcountries. In the ancient Greek Olympiad, the venue of the firstOlympic game in 776BC seems to be the only unifying centre andthe only thing that all Greeks had in common. So the Olympicevent staged in Olympiad provides them with an opportunity tointeract and make friends in addition to performing their “PanHellenic religious festival in honor of Zeus”en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Olympic-_Games.

This paragraph examined the role of sporting events as panaceafor peace, unity and understanding among people of the world,highlighting on its efficacy in fostering unity and understanding

in the society while citing some local and internationalexamples.

When examining the relationship between peace and tourism,Moufakkir & Kelly argued that “peaceful togetherness among people ofdifferent cultural backgrounds can be achieved if it occurs in appropriate circumstancessuch as those provided by sports and sporting events” (Nico & Deborah citedby Moufakkir & Kelly, 2010: xxvii). They envisaged sporting eventas a fundamental element in advancing the course of unity andunderstanding among different groups of people. They also believethat, sporting events can offer what they call “super ordinate goal”which has the potential to reduce or even overcome tensions amongdesperate groups. Nevertheless, they believe that sporting eventsif not properly staged in a green manner can generate ‘antisocial behavior’, but their final submission is anchored on theOlympic charter which brings people into ‘celebratoryenvironment’.

“The focus of the Olympic movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and betterworld by educating youth through sports practiced without discrimination of any kindand in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit offriendship, solidarity and fair play” (Craig cited by Girginov & Jim 2004).If what Craig said as quoted by Girginov & Jim is true of Olympicevent then Olympic event should not just be seen as a meresporting event, but a cultural, social, economic and politicalphenomenon that carries the seed of social and culturaltransformation. Sport is only used in Olympic event to achieve orpromote economic and political agenda. It is the single sportingevent that attracts the highest number of attendees worldwidewith over 200 member countries, so, technically it is the bestdiplomatic instrument that can bring the whole world together ina celebratory mood irrespective of racial, cultural, social orreligious differences.

The nature, scale, composition, media coverage and sponsorshipinvolvement of Olympic games show that its potential as a device

for ensuring global peace and understanding cannot be contested.It is not just a sporting event but an economic and politicalinstrument. One of the major forces that bring the world intocollaboration in both ancient and modern times is economic,politics and military cooperation but Olympic Games combine thethree. Olympism is a philosophical word championed by DeCoubertin which stated that “ Olympism is not just sport as an activity, butalso a formative and developmental influence contributing to desirable characteristic ofindividual personality and social life” (Girginov & Jim 2004:1). It will beright to further expand the view of De Coubertin to mean that agreener Olympic game can help in restructuring and reconstructinghuman identity through sharpening the character and the entirepersonality trait, also to a large extent promote humanbehavioral pattern in the society by way of enriching and aidingsocialization processes. We shall talk more on that whenaddressing events and liminality. When analyzing civic boosterismin the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Waitt, proposed that hallmarkevents have the capacity of acting as psychological device bywhich politicians can use to sparkle “feelings of national identity andsocial cohesion” (Waitt, 2010)

Another important way by which event can promote peace, unity andunderstanding among people is when the event is green,sustainable and can give back to the community where it has beenstaged. When there is fairness, justice and friendship thenracial, cultural and religious discrimination is heavilydiscouraged and sanctioned. In the case of mega events like FIFAworld cup, Paralympics and Olympic sporting events, such racial,religious and cultural discrimination are discouraged andsanctioned with severe punishment. Promotion of equal opportunityamong participants, attendees, tourists, countries, organizers,and host community in any event of all type and scale remain themost crucial criteria for ensuring peace, unity andunderstanding. For example “tourism development that comes from the outsidewithout respecting and working with the local communities can exacerbate existing

tensions and conflicts; they can give rise to new injustices, inequalities and conflicts”(Chanchani cited by Honey, 2009). Similarly, event of any typeand scale ,if well planned and staged with the community’sinvolvement, less risk, minimal social and environmental impactsthat brings real dividends to the community, attendees, tourists,organizers and sponsors will definitely ensue unity andunderstanding among the various stakeholders and the city atlarge.

A local case scenario of the impact of sporting event in buildingunity and understanding among people is common in the Northernpart of Nigeria, where there is serious tribal and religiousconflicts. Political and traditional leaders have come tounderstand that during sporting events people do put aside theirtribal and religious differences and come together in the spiritof sportsmanship to compete in a sporting competition. Hostilitywas perceived among youths from different communities in a LocalGovernment Council in Kaduna state of Nigeria in 2001, so theChairman of the Council organized a peace building footballtournament among the various Districts that make up the Council.This sporting event is now an annual event as each tournamentbrings fresh friendship and reunion among the communities. Overtime, the sporting event proved potentially rich in adding to thebuilding blocks of peace, unity and understanding at the locallevel.

EVENTS TYPOLOGIES

Several authors and scholars have made several attempts toclassify events into different types based on scales, contents,compositions, frequency of occurrences, budget, media coverage,and attendance and even within geographical space which thispaper will try to explore in a short while.

Event has been categorized based on the scope, content, contextand intent, attendance, organization, stakeholders’ involvement

and media coverage. The following types of events have beenidentified by different authors “social life cycle events, sport events, eventtourism, business/corporate events, religious events, civic events, entertainment events,political events, education and career events, festival events, cause-related and fundraising events” (Goldblatt 2OO8:10, Judy 2009:3, Graham, 2007:12 &www.eventeducation.com/ ) Within these event types mentionedabove some are small or large events while others are megaevents. Some are planned while others are unplanned, soirrespective of the nature or size of the event, if well plannedand celebrated in a peaceful atmosphere has the potential to fasttrack the needed unity and understanding among people of diverseculture, religious and social status.

Within the Nigeria context, wedding is gradually becoming a majorforce in integrating, uniting and enhancing understanding amongvarious families, tribes, communities and region. It is a commonpractice in Nigeria that family members of the intending coupletravel from far distance places to attend wedding events of relations. Nigeria hasover 350 ethnic tribes spread across the six geo-political zones of thecountry. Wedding event is seen as a means of reconnecting people,establishing family reunion and a meeting point to make newfriends. Since after the Nigerian civil war of 1967, inter-tribal, inter-religious and inter-regional marriages have beenpreached among Nigerians as a means of fostering reconciliation,unity and mutual co-existence among Nigerians. This inter-tribaland inter-religious marriage paradigm has proved useful inreconciling the different ethnic tribes and religions more thananything within Nigerian context. Such wedding events arecharacterized by the extension of hand of fellowship to peoplewho were seen before as enemies. A practical example is thewedding ceremony of the co-author of this paper on 11th October,2008 in All Saint Cathedral Anglican Church Onitsha, Anambrastate, in the eastern part of Nigeria. The groom is from Kadunastate, a northern part of Nigeria while the bride hails fromAnambra state, the eastern part of Nigeria; a distance of over

650km apart. The wedding ceremony brought together people fromfar northern part of Nigeria and people from eastern part ofNigeria with different languages and cultural backgrounds in acelebratory mood. Unity and understanding was further re-established between regions that were not in good relationshipbefore and such relationship is growing day by the day inNigeria. “Contacts involving people from different cultural backgrounds lead towarmer relationships among them” (Darya cited by Moufakkir & Kelly,2010: xxviii). The views of Darya as noted by Moufakkir & Kellyhave a high degree of validity as observed in so many events,like the one given above, the wedding event brought into contactthe Gwandara speaking tribe from the far northern part of Nigeriaand the Igbo speaking tribe from the far eastern part of Nigeriatogether in a celebratory mood and that further strengthened awarmer relationship among the two ethnic groups. Wedding, namingceremony, birthday, coronation events all fall within thecategorization of social life circle events, FIFA world cup,Olympic, Paralympics, grand prix and all other indoors andoutdoors sport fall under the categorization of sporting eventswhile convention, conferences, meeting fundraising gala are underbusiness events. They are all important force to be reckoned within promoting unity and understanding in Nigeria.

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ABUJA AND RIO DE JANEIRO CARNIVAL

In trying to compare Abuja carnival and Rio de Janeiro carnivalone will look at their compositions. Several cultural, social andeconomic elements are common in both Rio de Janeiro and Abujacarnival. In term of aims, contents and characteristics of theevents, both carnivals are almost similar in the minds of theorganizers. The composition of Nigeria as a country with diversecultures and traditions is also similar to that of Brazil.Nigeria is a country with over 350 ethnic entities, speakingdifferent languages with diverse cultures and traditions, showingthe richness of Nigeria’s culture. Brazil on the other hand has

up to 200 ethnic entities with different cultures and traditions.In 2011 the population of Brazil was estimated to stand at about192 million people (worldpopulationreview.com/population-of-Brazil-2012/). Brazil have a mixture of Amerindians, Europeans,Africans, Asians and Aboriginal, the combination of these raceswith a fragmentation of 200 tribes within one country made brazilone of the world’s most heterogeneous nation and one of the mostculturally rich and diversified nation of the world alongsideNigeria. The Rio de Janeiro carnival has a religious content; itis often held from Friday to Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, whichconsequently ushers in the beginning of Lent unlike Abujacarnival which is purely a cultural carnival. Arguably Rio deJaneiro carnival has common features with Abuja carnival in termsof content and context. It’s evidently clear that Rio carnivalhas a link to African culture as it is influenced by African-Brazilian culture.

In terms of scale, composition, media coverage, sponsorship andinternational recognition, Rio de Janeiro is by far larger thanthe Abuja carnival but in terms of authenticity, It will beappropriate adjudge Abuja carnival more authentic than the Riocarnival. The reason for this judgment could be based on theorigin of Brazilian samba dance and the masquerade traceable toAfrican culture which was introduced to Brazil during the slavetrade. Nigeria being the most populous black nation in the worldcan be argued to be the custodian of African culture andtradition with over 350 different cultures in display that aloneformed the decision to adjudge Abuja carnival the most authentic.This is the root of all masquerade manifestation found in Riocarnival. Samba was incorporated into the mainstream of Riocarnival event in 1917. “Samba sung in ghetto shack as well as high classmansions truly brings the Brazilians together regardless of economic and social status”(http://www.rio.com/rio-carnival/history-carnival). This furtherjustifies the potentials of event to bring people togetherwithout economic, social or racial barrier. The modern day Rio

carnival has its main goal unity building and economicregeneration. When slave trade was abolished in the 19th centuryin Brazil and cocoa production dropped, Rio gradually lost itsstatus as the country’s cultural city to Soa polo but regainedits status through tourism. Today Rio carnival is regarded as thebest single carnival in the world. (www.guinnessworldrecords.com)

Both Rio and Abuja carnival are conceived to be a celebration ofunity in diversity as the carnival brings a mixture of Africans,Europeans and Native Brazilians in a celebratory mood. On theother hand Abuja carnival brings together all the over 350Nigerian cultures and other African countries who are always inattendance to the carnival as a celebration of life.

Abuja carnival was conceived to be an annual event. It is acelebration of unity in diversity of Nigeria and has laid thefoundation of an authentic African carnival from which all othermanifestations took root. The city of Abuja is a meeting point ofcultures, people, and civilizations. One of the objectives of thefestival is to market Nigeria as a safe and secured destinationfor domestic and international tourism, as well as promotingunity and understanding among Nigerian people.

The current Vice President of Nigeria, when speaking at the

opening ceremony of the 2012 edition of the Abuja annual

cultural carnival in Abuja asserted that “laudable dreams that gave

birth to the carnival have continued to motivate its annual celebration, anchored on the

recognition that there exist a nexus between culture, the economic and technological

growth of a nation”( www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/colour) Abuja carnival

is arguably claimed by the carnival committee to be “the mother of

all carnivals and that Nigeria is the source of Caribbean and South American

masquerades”. Economically sound, politically stable and socially

modest society will experience unimaginable peace, unity and

understanding. The connection between culture, economy and

technology as proposed by Sambo can be properly harnessed by

event

staging to bring the needed economic prosperity, social cohesion

and political stability among people.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival Masquerade Photos

Abuja Carnival Masquerade Photos

A critical look at the costumes of masquerades at both Rio andAbuja carnivals will show that the costume of Abuja masqueradeslooks more ancient and more authentic suggesting that,celebration of culture has been part and parcel of the Africanpeople, but modern cultural consumption and commodification is anew cultural paradigm in Nigeria and in Africa at large.

As noted from the beginning of this paper, celebration has beenpart and parcel of human endeavor before, during and after themedieval era. It has continued to this modern time and willcontinue to be, even in the future due to its psychological,emotional, spiritual, recreational, political, economical, socialand cultural impacts on the wellbeing of people and thecommunity. Also to a large extent it has the potential tointegrate the world into a global village as it does happenduring mega events like the Olympic and FIFA World Cup

tournaments. At the infancy stage of evolution of the eventindustry, it was purely a social, cultural and religiousphenomenon. Celebration as a joyous expression of inner feelingsof happiness in man has necessitated the organization and stagingof different kinds of events though not in sophisticated mannerlike what is obtainable now. “As society started to create towns and socialsystems, event venues became an intrinsic dimension of the town planning process.Roman cities often include arenas and amphitheatre for shows or marketplaces fortrading, community events, shrines and churches for religious celebration are alsoevident” (Robinson et al 2010).

In a typical village or community in the third world countrieslike Nigeria, shrines for religious events, village Halls forsocial and cultural events and marketplaces forexhibition/business are common features and they all form majormeeting points for the villagers to meet, interact and socializeamong themselves. In most cases people get their life partners insuch event venues.

The emergence of industrialization era of 19th and 20th centurybrought about a rapid growth in the event industry. Robinson et al(2010) believes that this period witnessed spontaneousdevelopment of event venues and facilities like stadium,conference centers, Hotels, theatres etc. The growth of the eventindustry in the last three decades has given rise to theexplosive growth experienced by the service industry therebyattracting the attention of investors, policy makers, Governmentand researchers. More and more celebrations are beingincorporated into event typologies. Now, there are severalcelebratory events than ever before and they will continue toincrease as the society develops further. Going by the typologiesof event, one will come to term that event industry touches everyaspect of human life.

COMMUNITAS AND LIMINALITY

Communitas is a social bond between strangers who happen to have in common thefact that they are in some way travelling or on holiday together or converging in oneevent camp (Franklin, 2003:48). There is a relationship betweenevent staging and formation of communitas. Be it carnival,festival, business, sporting events or event of any kind, thereis always a room for communitas to be formed. When people leavetheir everyday mundane lives to attend an event for a number ofdays, they always engage in social interaction with otherparticipants from other places and the result of such interactioncan lead to the formation of communitas. In any event like Abujacarnival, Rio de Janeiro carnival, Olympic Games, Paralympicsgames and FIFA tournament, a high degree of communitas isnoticeable in the form of spirit of sportsmanship. Participants,attendees and tourists interact as though they are from the sameplace. “Intensive interaction and exchange that can be described as micro andmacro in the sociological discourse can lead to the formation of communitas”(Tukura, 2013:10). This newly formed healthy communitas canfurther strengthen the process of unity and mutual understandingamong people in the society at large. On the other handliminality is the temporary suspension of the everyday routine bypeople in order to engage in celebrative events like carnival,sporting events, conference and all forms of celebratorymanifestation. This form of temporary separation from everydayroutine leads to acquisition of a new life style by the event’sattendees through the ritual performance that characterizes allevents and communitas formation process. Sharing, exchange offriendship and gifts during any event can be equated with the“sacred experience of the rite of passage” (Waitt, 2010:255). This rite ofpassage gives the event’s attendees, the residents and the city anew status; it redefines and enriches their social relationship.Liminality as a concept is closely related with the idea ofsocial process called socialization where an individual or groupof people learn or acquire new social behavior as a result ofsocial interaction that occurred between them and members of

other community. Such interactions often occur during eventstaging.

METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted in writing this paper is qualitative.Qualitative research method entails “talking in depth and indetails with few individuals” (Romilo, 2004:40). Qualitativeresearch is also used to “describe research methods andtechniques which use to give rise to qualitative rather thanquantitative information” (Veal, 2006:3 & Bryman, 2008:366).Qualitative research method is widely used in the field oftravel, tourism and hospitality due to the unique nature of theindustry and the changing pattern of tourism consumption. Throughthe application of inductive and epistemological studies,researchers get to have an insider’s perspective on thephenomenon under discussion which helps the researchers to gatherraw data and real life experiences from the respondents. Aqualitative methodology can further be argued to be associatedwith the “holistic-inductive and post-modern paradigm” (Gayle,2001:158). The researcher interviewed five (5) respondents andtheir responses were jotted down, coded and analyzed.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How can event promote peace, unity and understanding? Looking closely at events such as Argungu fishing festival

and Abuja carnival, do you think, these events has done wellin uniting Nigeria?

What other events do you think could be a potential peacebuilding block in Nigeria?

FINDINGS

Research question 1

How can event promote peace, unity and understanding?

Justine believes that event has the efficacy to foster peace,unity and understanding among people of different social,religious and cultural background by bringing people togetherinto a celebratory atmosphere. Ayang further highlighted on theimportance of events such as birthday parties and socialgathering, according to him, he makes more friends in socialgathering than in any other type of gathering. While Nahum, Chung& Adams hold the same view, they opined that events such assports are the most viable touristic engagement in terms of peacebuilding and unity. Their argument stem from the fact that,sporting events cut across all borders, citing FIFA World Cup,Olympic Games and other sporting tournaments. They argued thatthe whole world is brought together irrespective of color,language, religious, political and cultural affiliation.

Research question 2

Looking closely at events such as Argungu fishing festival andAbuja carnival, do you think, these events has done well inuniting Nigeria?

In response to the above question, Justine and Ayang unanimouslyagreed that events such as Argungun fishing festival and Abujacarnival has done a lot in bringing the needed unity in Nigeria,they cited Abuja carnival where all the tribal and culturalgroups from all the six geo-political zone of Nigeria and the FCTare brought together to celebrate culture, unity in diversity andfriendship. They opined that, if Nigerians are sensitize andencouraged to participate in such events, Nigerians would allcome to appreciate and respect one another’s culture therebypromoting peaceful coexistence, unity and understanding as wellas establishing a great sense of national identity and civicpride. While Adams, Chung and Nahum concurred with the view ofJustine and Ayang, they further argued that Government shouldresolved to sporting events such as staging of National sport

festival to promote peace and civic boosterism among itscitizenry.

Research Question 3

What other events do you think could be a potential peacebuilding block in Nigeria?

According to Justine and Ayang, religious and politicalconferences and convention are powerful events that can be usedto promote peace agenda. They cited Commonwealth Head ofGovernment Meeting (CHOGOM) and West Africa Head of GovernmentMeeting as examples of Political events that can promote peaceprocess among the member states. This kind of tourism falls underbusiness tourism; Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition(MICE). The views of Nahum, Chung and Adams are not different,they’re optimistic that, religious conferences such as interfaithconferences both at the national and international level willhelp to promote peace, unity and understanding in the world.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In view of the potentials of event tourism in bringing peopleinto close contact in a celebratory atmosphere, and the urgentneed for peace in the society, the following recommendations havebeen put forward;

I. Planning and staging of events such as sport and culturalfestival should be encouraged in the society to help bringpeople together in a friendly and peaceful atmospherethereby consolidating the bond of unity among them.

II. Government and community leaders should be sensitized on theplace of events tourism as a peace building block.

III. Inter-tribal and inter-cultural events such as weddings,naming ceremonies, festivals should be encouraged amongpeople.

IV. Due to the green nature of event tourism, it should bepromoted in a wide scale as against other mass form oftourism.

V. In addition to peace building, it is economically viable andenvironmentally friendly, therefore, government andcorporate organizations should invest in the event industry.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the role of event as a catalyst for fosteringunity and understanding among people cannot be underscored. It isseen in all its manifestation both at local, national, regionaland international circuit. The unprecedented growth of eventindustry and event typology over time and the increasing interestof researchers in the field of event discourse have proved to bean explanation of the potentials of event as a powerful force tobe reckoned with in the modern society. Events like sports,religious conferences, convention, cultural and social lifeevents have been applied in different circumstances to stimulatepeace, unity and understanding among people.

REFERENCES

Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. 3th edition Oxford

University Press, Great Clarendon Street.

Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. 4th edition Oxford

University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford.

Cooper et al (2008) Tourism, Principles and Practice. 4th Edition. Pearson

Education Limited, England.

Ferdinand, N & Kitchin, P.J (2012). Events Management: An international

approach. SAGE

Publication Ltd, London

Franklin, A. (2003). Tourism: An Introduction. SAGE Publication

Limited.

Girginov, V. & Jim, P. (2004). The Olympic Games Explained: A student

guide to the evolution of

the modern Olympic Games. Routledge Publisher London

Gayle, J., 2001. Tourism Research. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

33Park Road, Milton.

Waitt, G. (2011). The Olympic spirit and civic boosterism: The Sydney 2000

Olympics.

International journal of Tourism Space, Place and

Environment. 3 (3), 2011, pg 254-255

Graham, B. (2007). Events Design and Experience. Butterworth-Heinemann

Elsevier.

Honey, M. (2009). Tourism: Preventing Conflict, Promoting Peace. Centre

for Responsible

Travel (CREST) Washington, DC and Stanford

University.

Judy, A. (2009). Events Planning: The ultimate guide to successful meetings,

corporate event,

fundraising galas, conferences, conventions, incentive and other special events.

2nd

Ed. John Wiley & Sons Canada Ltd.

Moufakkir, O & Kelly, I (2010). Tourism and a Culture of Peace. CAB

International

Robinson, P. et al (2010). Events Management. CAB International,

Nosworthy way Wallingford

Romilo, C. (2004). Research Methods for Travel and Tourism Industry.

Sonali Publications New Delhi-110002.

Storey, J. (2009) Cultural theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. Fifth

Ed. Pearson

Education, England

Thomas, B. et al (2009). People and Work in Events and Conventions: A

Research Perspective.

CAB International.

Tukura, S.A (2013). The Place of Tourism in Contemporary Society: A Critical

Look at Abuja

Carnival. Essay submitted to the University of Sunderland.

Veal, A. J. (2006). Research Methods for Leisure and Tourism: A Practical

Guide. 3rd Ed. Pearson Education Limited, England.

www.guinnessworldrecords.com

http://www.tourismforpeace.org/

www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/colour

http://www.eventeducation.com/what

en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Olympic-_Games

Worldpopulationreview.com/population-of-Brazil-2012

http://www.rio.com/rio-carnival/history-carnival

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/11/2012-abuja-carnival-fg-to-hosts-12-

countries/

Submitted by;

Tukura S. A (MHATMAN)

Department of Parks and Recreation

Abuja Metropolitan Management Council

&

Esther Dauda Samaila (MHATMAN)

Department of Hospitality Management Technology

Ramat Polytechnic Maiduguri