The real inside story of Macron X Shrine event by Trace

You must have seen the pictures: ‘A Celebration of African Culture’, as it was officially named, took place over a few hours on the evening of July 3rd, but it was the biggest story of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Nigeria. Over 28 million people saw the social media posts, more than 1,700 press articles from around the world and TV segments were produced, reaching another 120 million people. And all for good reason! A Celebration of African Culture was made possible by Ecobank and conceived and produced by TRACE Events and it was a historic moment: the first time that a sitting President visited The Shrine of the self proclaimed “Black President”, Fela!

For many, The Shrine is a mysterious place. A bit dangerous, a bit scary, far away from the glamorous clubs and swanky hotels of the Island, most in attendance on the night said they had never been to The Shrine before. The event helped cement a new perception and continued the momentum that has been turning Femi and Yeni Kuti into a celebrated legacy versus the son and daughter of the notorious Fela. But for President Macron, he accepted TRACE’s invitation because it was a place where he partied as a young man during an internship in Nigeria (“What happens at the Shrine stays at the Shrine!”, he said), and where he learned about Africa.

On May 29th, just 5 weeks before the event, the scope of these challenges started to dawn on me when Steve Ayorinde, Commissioner of Tourism and Culture for Lagos State casually said to me, “It’s unprecedented for the leader of a superpower to come on a State visit, then leave the seat of Government and come to a city and spend time with a Governor, even of a City like Lagos.”

But Emmanuel Macron wanted to meet and interact with Nigerian artists and creators, and that’s what we had to deliver. A lot of thought went into the program to come up with the right line-up, the one that would present the right mix of music, dance, art, fashion, and Nollywood. Countless hours were spent in meetings with the different stakeholders: the Elysee (France’s equivalent to Aso Rock or the American White House), Ecobank, Femi Kuti and the Shrine’s management, the technical teams, the artists… A lot of interests to consider!

And so many questions: what measures do we put in place to guarantee the safety of the 800 VIP and VVIP guests, 250 journalists, but also the President of France and the Governor of Lagos? How do we handle the hawkers outside the venue who almost consider the Shrine their home? Should we renovate the toilets? (take a look at them on your next visit!) In the end it was true teamwork: Lagos State repaved the roads outside the Shrine and blocked traffic to make way for the Presidential delegation and performed a bomb sweep, the Elysee security team secured the President’s and Governor’s spaces within an already crowded VIP with Senators, Governors, Ministers, Celebrities and The Kuti Family. The event was a real leveller, all the guests, even the VIPs arrived early and waited patiently because they wanted to party with The President! Then, one major issue came up, The President’s team said that we should plan in case President Macron needs to leave after one hour… “What if Donald Trump calls with a world emergency?”

I can’t lie: my team and I really felt the heat in these last couple of hours before the event. We were exhausted from weeks of non-stop work and hadn’t slept the night before. The event was massively oversubscribed: we had planned for 800, but 1,200 people showed up. The Shrine rapidly got hot, sticky, and very crowded. We ran out of chairs.

And once Emmanuel Macron and Governor Ambode arrived and were greeted by Femi Kuti, Ecobank CEO, Charles Kie, and TRACE co-founder and Executive Chairman, Olivier Laouchez, the show was ON!

The rest you know: Yemi Alade and Charlotte Dipanda showed everybody what Afrobeats is about, Ara Thunder made Macron play the talking drum, Kareem Waris, the 11 year-old artist moved the President and the world with his genius skills. Kunle Afolayan and some of Nollywood’s biggest stars gathered around the French leader for an iconic selfie. And the Oga of the house, Femi Kuti grabbed the president’s hand and dragged him on stage, where he was joined by African greats Youssou N’dour and Angelique Kidjo for a beautiful finale and of course The President stayed throughout.

For me and my team, it was mostly a blur, but a brilliant blur, and according to all of the positive feedback we received from our friends and guests, and from the President himself, it was a night to remember. Lagos and The Shrine – thank you for welcoming President Macron with us.

Sam Onyemelukwe is a media and entertainment industry expert and is Managing Director of Trace EMC, the Trace licensee that manages Trace TV in Anglophone Africa.