By: Manoah Kikekon
BADAGRY, Nigeria – The African Renaissance Foundation (AREFO), in partnership with the Badagry community, has announced that the highly anticipated 2025 Badagry Diaspora Door of Return Festival will be held from Thursday, 9th to Saturday, 11th of October, 2025.
The dates were finalized following extensive consultations with local stakeholders, marking a collective commitment to hosting a landmark event.
The decision was ratified during a pivotal meeting on Sunday, September 21st, which brought together a diverse cross-section of Badagry’s leadership. Attendees included Dr. (Chief) Babatunde Mesewaku, the visionary lead of AREFO, representatives from the town's indigenous communities, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and delegates from the Igbo community. This unified presence underscores the festival's significance as a pan-Nigerian and pan-African endeavor aimed at healing and cultural reconnection.
The 2025 festival programme is designed to be a vibrant and immersive experience into the rich cultural tapestry of Badagry. Attendees can look forward to a packed schedule featuring a high-level symposium at the majestic Palace of the Akran of Badagry, a spectacular boat regatta on the serene Badagry waterways, and colorful cultural performances and processions through the ancient town.
The symposium, organized in collaboration with the Institute of Diaspora Studies at the University of Ibadan, will provide a crucial academic platform to discuss the historical context and future of diaspora repatriation and engagement.
This year’s edition will be poignantly dedicated to the memory and legacy of Mère Jah, a renowned ecological and Pan-African activist from Guadeloupe. Heeding a Rastafarian prophecy, she and her family became the first Francophone family to repatriate to Africa in 1997, settling in Benin after 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade.
Until her passing, Mère Jah was a formidable advocate for the citizenship and belonging rights of Afro-descendants in West Africa and was a steadfast supporter of the Badagry Diaspora Door of Return Festival, making her its perfect honoree.
Substantial support for the festival is already materializing from both private and public sectors. The SMA Foundation, established by the illustrious Badagrian philanthropist Mr. Samuel Mawuyon Ajose, has officially confirmed its sponsorship. Organizers are also eagerly awaiting a response from the Lagos State Government to further amplify the event's reach and impact.
Locally, the festival has received full-throated endorsements from key political figures, including the Chairman of Badagry Local Government, Babatunde Hunpe, and his counterparts from Olorunda and Badagry West LCDAs.
A defining goal for the 2025 festival is the full and active participation of every community and ethnic group within Badagry, creating a powerful, unified front to welcome their kin from across the oceans. Organizers are expecting a significant influx of Africans from the diaspora from the Americas, the Caribbean, and Europe who will journey to Badagry to walk through the symbolic "Door of Return," participate in traditional rites, and spiritually reconnect with the ancestral homeland they were once forcibly taken from.