THE Federal Government and MyCityApp Nigeria have unveiled plans for “Ember to Remember 2026,” a coordinated 100-day national tourism season aimed at bringing together Nigeria’s festivals, culture, entertainment, hospitality, destinations and creative experiences from September to December, while converting them into measurable economic opportunities.
News Point Nigeria reports that the initiative, announced on Monday at a press conference at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, is designed to position Nigeria as an all-year-round destination for Nigerians, members of the diaspora and international visitors, with a National Digital Events and Experiences Calendar expected to serve as a single platform for discovering activities across the country.
The Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy, Hon. Hannatu Musa Musawa, in her address, said Nigeria must deliberately rethink how it presents itself to the world and build a stronger tourism economy around its vast cultural and creative experiences.
She noted that while December had over the years become the period most associated with Nigeria’s tourism, entertainment and homecoming experience, the country was far bigger than a single month.
According to her, Nigeria’s culture does not begin in December, neither do its festivals, food, music, fashion, heritage, hospitality, natural attractions and creative energy suddenly emerge at the end of the year.
“Nigeria is alive all year round,” Musawa declared, stressing that what had been missing was a deliberate structure capable of bringing the country’s experiences together, giving them greater visibility and marketing them as one powerful national story.
She said this was the objective of Ember to Remember, which she described as Nigeria’s coordinated September-to-December tourism season and a 100-day national programme connecting culture, tourism, entertainment, hospitality, transportation, commerce and the creative economy.
According to the minister, the initiative is about moving beyond merely having events and deliberately building an economy around the experiences they create.
She explained that when people travel, hotels benefit, while filled hotels also create opportunities for restaurants, transport operators, tour guides, retailers and event businesses. Similarly, she said, when festivals attract visitors, communities benefit, while proper organisation and marketing of such experiences would generate greater economic activity for states and make Nigeria more competitive as a tourism destination.
Musawa said the initiative would build on, rather than replace, the existing work of agencies under the ministry, including the National Council for Arts and Culture, the National Theatre, the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation, the National Gallery of Art, museums, archaeological institutions and cultural orientation agencies.
“Every institution protects and promotes an important part of Nigeria’s story,” she said, adding that Ember to Remember would bring these efforts together, amplify them and give them a larger national and international platform.
At the centre of the initiative, she said, is MyCityApp Nigeria, the digital platform partner helping to build the infrastructure through which the country’s tourism ecosystem can be discovered and experienced.
Musawa explained that the platform would provide a single digital gateway through which Nigerians, visitors and members of the diaspora could discover events, festivals, destinations, hotels, restaurants, cultural experiences and other opportunities across Nigeria.
“Our objective is simple: one country, one national calendar, one trusted place to discover Nigeria,” she said.
Through the partnership, she added, events and tourism experiences from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory would be brought together and distributed to audiences within Nigeria and internationally.
“Our ambition, therefore, is not merely to create another event calendar. We are building a national tourism infrastructure, and today’s press conference is the first public step in that journey,” the minister said.
She formally announced that the Ember to Remember National Stakeholders Conference would hold on September 14, 2026, at the Eko Hotel in Lagos.
The conference, according to Musawa, will bring together government, state tourism authorities, the private sector, financial institutions, airlines, hospitality leaders, event producers, creatives, technology companies, the media and other partners considered critical to building a stronger tourism economy.
Most importantly, she said, the National Ember to Remember Calendar would be officially unveiled at the conference, representing a coordinated national collection of festivals, concerts, cultural celebrations, conferences, destinations and tourism experiences across Nigeria.
“Four months. One continuous story. One Nigeria,” Musawa said.
She, however, stressed that government could not build the vision alone and called for genuine collaboration between government and industry.
The minister acknowledged MTN Nigeria and Providus Bank for supporting the initiative, noting that MTN’s reach, technology and nationwide presence offered an important opportunity to take the national calendar closer to millions of Nigerians.
She also commended Providus Bank for recognising the role financial institutions could play in developing the tourism, hospitality and creative economy.
“To MTN and Providus Bank: thank you for believing in this journey and for stepping forward as partners,” she said.
Musawa expressed hope that many more organisations would join the coalition, noting that tourism touches virtually every aspect of the economy.
She said airlines move visitors, hotels accommodate them, banks facilitate commerce, telecommunications companies connect them, technology helps them discover and navigate destinations, while transport operators move them within cities.
Event organisers, she added, create the experiences, restaurants feed visitors, creatives tell the stories and the media carries those stories to the world.
The minister said this was why the September 14 Stakeholders Conference was important, stressing that it would not simply be another gathering but a working national conversation focused on one key question: how Nigeria’s enormous tourism and cultural potential could be turned into measurable economic value.
She said participants would examine aviation, hospitality, transportation, digital infrastructure, investment, culture, events and the visitor experience, with the aim of securing commitments and collaboration and achieving a clearer understanding of what each sector would contribute towards making Ember to Remember successful.
“Our goal is to build a Nigerian tourism season that grows stronger every year. A season that creates jobs. A season that supports businesses. A season that encourages Nigerians to travel within Nigeria. A season that gives every state an opportunity to showcase what makes it special. And a season that gives the world another reason to experience Nigeria,” Musawa said.
The minister also sent a message to Nigerians in the diaspora, urging them not to wait until December before returning home.
“Come home for Ember,” she said, urging them to experience Nigeria beyond one city and beyond one month.
She called on the diaspora to visit Nigerian festivals, discover the country’s food, explore its heritage, support businesses and travel across different parts of the country, “from Lagos to Calabar, from Abuja to Jos, from Enugu to Kano, from the cities to the communities where some of the most extraordinary Nigerian stories are waiting to be experienced.”
Musawa also called on the media to support the initiative over the next 100 days by telling a different story about Nigeria, one that moves beyond entertainment alone and connects culture with commerce, tourism with investment, experiences with jobs and national pride with economic opportunity.
“It is time for us to tell our own story deliberately. It is time to market Nigeria to the world with the confidence that our culture, our people and our experiences deserve,” she said.
The Chief Executive Officer of MyCityApp, who also addressed the press conference, said there was something special about Nigeria from September as the country comes alive with festivals, concerts, culture, food, fashion, music, nightlife, homecomings, carnivals and destination experiences that attract Nigerians, members of the diaspora and international visitors.
He said Nigeria already has a natural tourism season from September through December and explained that Ember to Remember was designed to bring those experiences together, amplify them and present Nigeria to the world as a destination to experience during the period.
According to him, Nigeria already possesses the culture, creativity, music, food, fashion and destinations required to build a major tourism economy, but needs greater visibility and a better system through which people can discover and plan their Nigerian experiences.
“This is where MyCityApp comes in,” he said.
He described MyCityApp as a digital city and tourism platform connecting people to Nigeria’s events, destinations, hospitality, culture and experiences.
Through Ember to Remember, he said, the platform was creating a National Digital Events and Experiences Calendar, which would be unveiled at the National Stakeholders Conference on September 14, 2026.
“Our vision is simple: wherever you are in the world, when you ask, ‘What is happening in Nigeria from September to December?’ there should be one place to find the answer,” he said.
The calendar, he explained, would bring together major concerts in Lagos, cultural festivals across the states, the Calabar Carnival, food festivals, fashion shows, art exhibitions, tourism experiences, resorts, beaches, indigenous celebrations and community events.
“We want to bring Nigeria’s Ember season together in one national digital calendar,” he said.
The MyCityApp CEO consequently invited event organisers across Nigeria to visit MyCityApp, click on Ember2Remember and upload their events.
He stressed, however, that the initiative was about more than creating a calendar, describing it as a platform for economic opportunity.
According to him, every visitor attending an event contributes to airlines, hotels, transport operators, restaurants, tourism businesses, retailers and other local enterprises.
“By connecting these experiences, we can attract more visitors, support businesses, create jobs and strengthen Nigeria’s tourism economy,” he said.
He added that the National Stakeholders Conference would provide a platform to explore how the tourism season could contribute to tourism development, economic growth and destination development across Nigeria.
The MyCityApp chief thanked the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and the Creative Economy under Musawa’s leadership, as well as strategic partners including MTN Nigeria and Providus Bank, for supporting the vision.
He maintained that Ember to Remember belonged to Nigeria and its businesses, creatives, tourism operators, communities and every Nigerian who believed the country had a story worth telling.
“Let us bring Nigeria’s Ember season together and make it easier for the world to discover,” he said.
“Nigeria is beautiful. Nigeria is vibrant. Nigeria is open.”
Musawa, in her closing remarks, said Sunday’s announcement marked the beginning of the journey, while September 14 would be the gathering where the National Calendar would be unveiled and a coordinated journey from September through December formally begins.
She said the organisers hoped the initiative would grow into an annual Nigerian tradition and called on states, government agencies, private-sector partners, creatives, tourism operators, the media and Nigerians at home and abroad to take their place in the movement.
“Because Ember to Remember is not simply about celebrating Nigeria. It is about positioning Nigeria. It is about turning our culture into opportunity, our experiences into economic activity, and our national story into something the world deliberately chooses to experience,” she said.
“One country. One calendar. One unforgettable season. Welcome to Ember to Remember 2026.”
