Panam Percy Paul, Joe Praize to grace Buchi’s National Hymn Festival

Preparations are in top gear for the forthcoming National Hymn Festival, an event put together by Buchi Atuonwu, the Nigerian Reggae music superstar and author.

The event is billed to hold at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) sports complex on November 19.

It will feature some top gospel singers such as Panam Percy Paul, Joe Praize, and Ada, among others.

Delegates of the Catholic Church, the Pentecostal fellowship, the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), and the white garment churches have been chosen to constitute the 2022-person National Hymn Festival choir.

Each denomination has also assembled its individual choir to chase the top prize of N2 million and a trophy.

There are also cash prizes, plaques, and trophies for the second and third place; along with consolation awards for every participating choir.

Speaking about the upcoming event, Buchi said: “With the National Hymn Festival, we will not only revive the singing of hymns, we will bring together the churches of Jesus Christ under one roof. Every song has a spirit, has a story, has its essence. It is time to unite the church through hymns. On one leg, we are revitalizing our worship through hymns. On the other leg is the unity of the church.

“The enemies of the church have taken up arms against the church seeing that we are disunited. They are convinced that if they burn down a Catholic church the people in the Redeemed church may not do much. They are convinced that if they hit the Methodist church or kidnap the Prelate of the Methodist church, nobody will take up arms in his defence because we are disunited and they know.

“This disunity has caused too much. We have presented ourselves as weak and vulnerable.”