AFIDFF Partners Kebbi to Train Youths in Digital Documentation, Promote Cultural Heritage
Partnership targets young content creators as Kebbi seeks global visibility for its festivals and cultural traditions
Young people in Kebbi State could soon have new opportunities to turn their digital skills into tools for preserving and promoting the state’s rich cultural heritage, following plans by the Africa International Documentary Festival Foundation, AFIDFF, to partner with the state government on specialised training.
Director-General of AFIDFF, Malame Mangzha, disclosed the plan when the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Yakubu Ahmed BK, led media aides of the Kebbi State Government on a courtesy visit to the Foundation to explore areas of collaboration.
Mangzha said AFIDFF had spent about a decade documenting Africa’s cultural heritage and history while working with international organisations, including UNESCO and Google Arts & Culture, to promote heritage sites, monuments, festivals and other cultural assets.
She noted that the Foundation had previously documented the Argungu Fishing Festival, with videos from the coverage generating more than 18 million views across various digital platforms.
For Kebbi’s young people, Mangzha said the experience showed what could happen when local culture is professionally documented and presented to a global audience.
She explained that AFIDFF had built a community of more than 5,000 young content creators with different digital skills and was ready to extend its training opportunities to youths in Kebbi State.
The proposed training is expected to equip young people with practical skills in digital content creation, documentation and the promotion of cultural heritage, potentially giving them a bigger role in telling the stories of their communities to audiences beyond Nigeria.
Responding, Commissioner for Information and Culture, Yakubu Ahmed BK, said the visit was part of the state government’s efforts to build strategic partnerships and advocacy networks with organisations and individuals capable of promoting Kebbi and highlighting the achievements and development initiatives of Governor Nasir Idris’ administration.
The Commissioner appreciated AFIDFF for its previous documentation of the Argungu Fishing Festival, saying the wide reach of the coverage had demonstrated the potential for deeper collaboration between the Foundation and Kebbi State.
He called on the Foundation to extend its activities to other major cultural events across the state, including the Gwandu Emirate Horse-Racing Festival, Yauri Emirate Rigata Cultural Festival and Zuru Emirate Uhola Festival.
According to him, greater digital documentation and promotion of the festivals could help expose Kebbi’s cultural traditions to wider national and international audiences while creating opportunities for young people to participate in preserving the state’s heritage.
For many young Kebbi residents, the proposed partnership could therefore mean more than learning how to create videos or manage digital platforms. It could provide a pathway to tell their own stories, preserve traditions for future generations and help connect local culture with a much larger world.
