Why to travel to Nigeria

Consider yourself warmly invited to the Toronto International Film Festival. This year’s festival is occurring from September 7th to the 17th in the wonderful city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival has happened year and has been very strong for more than forty years. It has become one of the largest film festivals in the entire world. It boasts nearly half a million attendees every year with about five thousand of those people being actual film professionals form the industry.
We would like to bring special attention to one of the films that will be playing at this year’s festival. That film would be the Royal Hibiscus Hotel. The film itself is set in a small town in Nigeria. We shall not spoil that surely fine film by telling you too much about it. However, we would take this opportunity to point out that it is the only Nigerian film that will be shown at this year’s festival. The film tells the story of Ope. He was born in Nigeria but had left the country. He has returned home and has found that doing so can lead to a number of surprises and challenges.
We will leave the rest of the film to be shown and explained when it is shown. However, we firmly believe that the screening of this fill is a very big deal and we are thus taking the monumental opportunity presented by the film being part of the Toronto International Film Festival festivities to help implore you to immerse yourself in the progress it has made, the culture that is present in the country and the great things that are to come from the wonderful country of Nigeria.
There are so many wonderful stories to tell. We are proud to tell these stories because it helps give Nigeria a presence and place in people’s mind that is both real and positive. So many people know little to nothing about Nigeria. Others still do have preconceptions and presumptions about the country that are incomplete or inaccurate. The country has surely had challenges over the course its history but the proverbial tide has turned and we are ready to put the brilliance, colorfulness and beauty of our country and its culture on full display through the full and proper telling of the so many stories that we have to share.
Further, Nigeria is indeed but one country in the greater continent of Africa. However, are the most populous country on the entire continent and we thus control the narrative and thus what needs to be and should be said about our land. Not only do we control the narrative, we have a responsibility to do so with the necessary and needed amounts of vigor and passion. We have a moral imperative to tell the true and positive stories that are present in the hearts and minds of so many people that were born in Nigeria, that live in Nigeria or that have seen the greatness of our wonderful country first-hand.
For far too long, the country of Nigeria and the continent of Africa has been the definition of dysfunction and negativity around the world in the hearts and minds of many people. That can and must change and it is our intention to correct the direction and formulations of the stories and ideas that are currently being spread about Nigeria.
The actors, producers and other workers behind the Royal Hibiscus Hotel movie are doing their part to spread the good news and ideas about Nigeria. The collective of passionate people behind this invitation are doing their part to do the same. We know that if you allow yourselves to take in the stories, ideas and concepts about Nigeria, it will stir the same feelings within your own hearts and minds. The makers of the movie are living up to their responsibility and moral imperative and we are doing the same.

The people that abound within Nigeria that have these great stories to tell include writers, authors, entrepreneurs, actors, actresses, comedians, media personnel, bloggers and philanthropists. They also include a great number of normal Nigerians going about their lives. To call these people “regular” would be selling them short as even the “normal” people in Nigeria are kind, hospitable and generous by their very nature. Despite the challenges that they face and in all their forms, they have a great amount of national price and they make it a point to put a good face on what it means to be Nigerian and thus a leader of the African continent. Even something seemingly benign, as least to some people, as the traditional African folktales that have been passed from generation to generation for centuries serves as an example of the enrapturing and important stories that would fascinate and enthrall you were you to hear them. Stories about success, moral lessons, how to have a life of purpose and challenges are all part of the body of work of Nigerians both past and present.

Please enjoy yourself at the Toronto International Film Festival. Upon viewing the scenery and perspectives in the Royal Hibiscus Hotel movie, we are sure that you will be very eager to visit the country yourself and see it all for yourself. If you have the inclination and courage to do so, it will literally change your life and how you see our country and continent, if not the world as a whole.