Suggested Cue: Lagos lit up with colorful costumes this week as it held its annual Fanti carnival. It was inspired by the 19th century customs of the returned Afro-Brazilian freed slaves who influenced a cultural fusion on Lagos Island among the Yoruba people. The returnees brought back Samba sounds, colourful costumes and catholic feast-day tradition, creating memories far deeper and stronger than entertainment. It was held for over a century but stopped for nearly a decade before getting revived by the government in 2025 to preserve the state’s multicultural legacy. DW News West Africa Correspondent, Azeezat Olaoluwa reports. 

 
Lower thirds:

0:03  Report by / Azeezat Olaoluwa
0:20  Johns Kehinde Samuel / Descendant of Afro-Brazilian Freed slaves
0:51  Azeezat Olaoluwa, DW News West Africa Correspondent
1:36  Olajumoke Matilda Otitoloju / Descendant of Afro-Brazilian Freed slaves
1:48  Azeezat Olaoluwa, DW News West Africa Correspondent
2:08  Bolaji Animashaun / Project director, Lagos Fanti Carnival
2:25  Adetundun / Carnival Guest
2:33  Adebusolami / Carnival Guest

Script 

00:00
They were taken from Africa. Now, their culture marches back home 

This is the Lagos Fanti Carnival. Every year, the city honors people forced into slavery, and those who later returned home. 

+++SOT Johns Kehinde Samuel, Descendant of Afro-Brazilian Freed slaves English (sec) +++ 
"This carnival means peace to us, unity, cultural development. We don’t want to forget our origin. This is what our people, our fathers, our forefathers used at the festive period to gather themselves together to be happy, to have fun." +++

In the 19th century, freed slaves returned to Lagos from Brazil, Cuba, and across the Americas. They brought back music, food, and traditions, all expressed through Brazilian‑style carnival costumes. 

+++ Azeezat Olaoluwa, DW News West Africa Correspondent English (sec)  +++
"Marching at the moment is the Lafiaji group, one of the original communities where the returned freed slaves settled in when they got to Lagos. They are at the heart of the Fanti movement, and their costume shows the resilience and heritage of their ancestors which they don’t want to be forgotten."+++ 

Nat Sound - This is Lagos Fanti carnival! 

It’s one of the oldest carnivals in Nigeria. Seven groups prepare for months to take part, with dancing, music, and handmade costumes. Each group tells a story of people forced to leave Africa as slaves. 

Nat sound of the parade 

+++ SOT Olajumoke Matilda Otitoloju, Descendant of Afro-Brazilian Freed slaves English (sec) +++
This is one of the cultures that we brought and it's been going on. I was born to see it. I am over fifty years, close to sixty, and we are still celebrating it."+++

Nat sound of procession showing the bull and other animal mascots 

+++ Azeezat Olaoluwa, DW News West Africa Correspondent English (sec) +++
"The bull is a unique image which was brought back from Brazil by the returned freed slaves, and it symbolises the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It simply means that what is lost can always return."+++ 

+++ SOT Bolaji Animashaun, Project director, Lagos Fanti Carnival, English (sec) +++
"It’s really just a celebration of our heritage and that sort of like permeates to visitors, guests and even for us that we are from Lagos Island to sort of like re-learn our culture."+++ 

The Fanti festival was revived last year to preserve Lagos’ multicultural legacy. 
 
+++ SOT Adetundun, Carnival Guest English (9 sec) +++
"It’s good to have some fun time like this, it’s showing heritage, colour, showing who we are, showing where we come from."+++ 

+++ SOT Adebusolami, Carnival Guest English (20 sec) +++
"I used to attend this carnival as a child. My dad would buy costume for me, Lafiaji red and white, so I would sit on the horse with the queen and we would go round. Attending as an adult, there is this feeling that my childhood memories."+++ 

It is a shared memory, passed down through generations, of return, survival, and journeys that shaped lives and culture in Lagos. 
 
Nat sound of more carnival shots