The Student Government Association (SGA) collaborated with Adamawa Arts, a group of Yola-based artists, to hold the first Adamawa Arts Festival. The event which began on February 14, 2020, ended on the 16th.
SGA President Taslim Ladoja said the festival was intended to raise money for displaced people and to showcase talents that were embedded within the state.
"You do not often hear anything great about Yola, so this is our chance to change the narrative and let the world see that Yola is full of life, talent, and culture."
The day's event drew talents from both creative, visual, and fine arts genres. Young artists showcased artworks, paintings, carvings, bags, shoes, hand-made cards, and vases made from recycled materials.
In the creative arts category were dances, cooking, fashion, music, the spoken word, and poetry.
SGA's Assistant Director of Public Relations, Charles Nnaemeka-Igbe, said he was highly impressed by the turnout and quality of work on display.
Mr. Nnaemeka-Igbe congratulated the SGA, under Taslim's leadership, for successfully organizing the Arts festival which he said has opened a fresh window from which the outside world can appreciate the greatness of Adamawa State as well as the beauty and serenity of the AUN environment.
One of the organizers, Ogungbebi Timiletin, said they teamed up with the SGA because they considered the Association as having like-minds.
"When you want to achieve greatness, you have to work with great minds who are already doing great things for society."
Besides community service which is compulsory for all students, SGA and other student bodies and clubs at AUN have a culture of impacting the community through different charity events.
AUN is a community-serving institution and it instills the values of service leadership in its students, teaching them to give back to the community.
Students become aware of their immediate environment and their problems and work to develop solutions to those problems.
For AUN, the arts festival was another opportunity to give back to the community with which it enjoys an excellent relationship, and further consolidate its Development University mission.
Reported by Grace Togor Passa