This October, the Nigerian community in Hull and its friends will come together to mark another year of Nigerian independence with Nigeria @ 66, a cultural and community celebration designed to do far more than commemorate a date on the calendar. The event is conceived as a living space for identity, intergenerational connection, cultural memory, and civic imagination, bringing Nigerians of all ages and backgrounds together to celebrate where they come from while reflecting on where the nation is headed.
Nigeria @ 66 blends culture, participation, storytelling, competition, and reflection into a single day of shared experience. Through music, fashion, knowledge exchange, and a collective visioning exercise, the celebration invites everyone in the room, whether born in Nigeria, raised in the diaspora, or simply drawn to its culture, to take part in something that is at once a party, a classroom, and a town hall.
Lẹ́tà Sí Nàìjíríà: Letter to Nigeria
The centrepiece of this forward-looking spirit is a special session called Lẹ́tà Sí Nàìjíríà — “A Letter to Nigeria.” This is a global call to action extended to Nigerians everywhere, not just those in Hull. Nigerians across the world are invited to write a letter describing the Nigeria of their dreams: the country they hope to see, the changes they long for, and the values they wish it would embody.
Participants are not limited to the written word alone. Letters can be recorded as audio, filmed as video, or submitted as text, giving people the freedom to express themselves in whatever format feels most natural, a spoken word piece, a heartfelt voice note, a filmed message to future generations, or a carefully written letter. These entries can be shared through social media or sent directly via email, opening the initiative to anyone with a phone or a laptop, regardless of where in the world they are based.
Although we are celebrating our sovereignty, these letters are about hope and aspirations for Nigeria’s future, expressed in the participants’ own words and own voices. Taken together, they form a collective portrait of what Nigerians around the world believe their country can become.
As part of the Nigeria @ 66 programme, a selection of these letters will be brought to life through a public reading in which two to three chosen entries will be read aloud to the audience. This moment is designed to be one of the emotional high points of the event, a chance for the room to hear, in real time, the dreams that fellow Nigerians are carrying for their homeland. It transforms a private act of writing into a shared, communal experience, reminding everyone present that they are not alone in their hopes for Nigeria.
Nigeria @ 66 is not designed to end when the day is over. As a legacy output, all submitted letters will be compiled into a digital archive, a lasting record of this moment in the Nigerian diaspora’s collective consciousness. This archive ensures that the hopes expressed through Lẹ́tà Sí Nàìjíríà are not lost to time but preserved as a resource for reflection, research, and inspiration in years to come. Future generations will be able to look back at what Nigerians in 2026 dreamed for their country, creating a kind of living time capsule that grows richer with each year the initiative continues.
As the countdown to the celebration begins, we extend an open call to the Nigerian community in Hull and beyond: come celebrate, come learn, and above all, come dream, and put that dream into words through Lẹ́tà Sí Nàìjíríà.
Letter Submission Deadline: 25th of September 2026
