Report from the organisers:

The W/Africa Vegetarian Congress in Lagos, Nigeria, has come and gone.

The congress was very significant as it is marking the beginning of creating a future for the vegetarian movement for Africa. To some of the participants that was the 1st time they have the opportunity of travelling outside their home country. For me it was an opportunity to meet some members of the IVU-Africa group face to face. Various issues were discussed at the meeting with members of the IVU-Africa group. Korblah Wisdom from Ghana is to issue the communiqué and send to the IVU&IVU Africa group.

The congress drew participants from vegetarians & groups in the West Africa sub-region and beyond. The participants were given talks on the various aspects of the vegetarian way of life. The major highlight was the cutting of the vegetarian cake and another cake was in honour of Sat Guru Maharaji a vegan that was marking his 60th birthday.

Dec 10 was the Homeless Feeding at the FSP Destitute Village.There are over 3000 inmates at the village - children, lepers, disabled and old women. Many of the participants said they find the homeless feeding the most exciting. The project serves free vegan food to needy, homeless and hungry persons in Nigeria. The project is now tagged the West Africa Veg Feeding Project. The project will extended to many countries in the sub-region. There are some cooking equipment already in place to support the feeding project. Please watch out for details and pics of the feeding events.

The congress had some difficulties. The Lagos State Government is embarking on major road rehabilitation and is therefore affecting movement of persons and vehicles in the city. One can be in the traffic for several hours. On Dec 10 while going for the homeless feeding, our car developed major fault damaging the car. We had to abandoned the car on the third mainland bridge.
There will be more updates on the congress.

I wish to thank the IVU Council for sponsoring the congress, all the IVU Africa members that participated and all the individuals and groups within and outside Nigeria for taking part in the congress.

With warm regards
Emmanuel Eyoh
Nigeria Vegetarian Society
Convener-W/Africa Vegetarian Congress

Report from Korblah Korbla-Wisdom, President of the Christian Vegetarian Society of Ghana:

7th to 10th December2007
7th, Arrival of delegates
Nicolas LeRoux, Korblah Korbla-Wisdom had arrived, Dr{Herbal}Rockson Boateng arrived the following day, Salvador Ngono arrived  the following day on the 8th in the evening he missed the main event.
8th, Main Event
Event was held at the Indian Cultural Centre, Lagos
Emmanuel Eyoh, Event Organizer gave the inaugural address and introduced the delegates and participants to the high table.
Main event was delivering lectures and talks, topics were open to the participants to choose a topic of their choice.
Lectures/Talks were delivered by.
Ms Angeli Olorunsungon of Nigeria
His Holiness Veda-Vyasa Priya Swami of USA
Mr. Francis Falemara of Nigeria
Dr, Nelson  Nwiwu MD, of Nigeria
Musical break,music by Hare Krishna Movement, Lagos, Nigeria
Steve Angwudagwu Chairman Organising Committee of Nigeria.
Nicolas LeRoux of Cote d'Ivoire
Korblah Korbla-Wisdom of Ghana
Dr{Herbal]Rockson Boateng of (Ghana)
Varaha Das of Togo

Food was served after the Lectures and talks

The event ended by participants taking group photographs.

9th, there was a meeting amongst : Dr.Rockson Boateng (Ghana), Korblah Korbla- Wisdom (Ghana),  Emmauel Eyoh (Nigeria), Nicolas LeRoux (Cote d'Ivoire) & Salvador Ngono (Cameroon).
The meeting was to discuss about how to promote vegetarianism in Africa, how to form a strong and vibrant association.
There were suggestions and contributions, it was decided that a communiqué should be issued to the IVU Council and Africa Group.
10th, Homeless feeding event

It was an impressive event, it was nice and good to meet vegetarians from different places to share ideas and experiences. It was decided that Ghana should hold the next event is year 2008.

The Pre-Congress Information:

- From Emmanuel Eyoh
Founder Nigeria Vegetarian Society
Co-ordinator West Africa Vegetarian Congress:

The main purpose of the congress is to serve as a platform to bring vegetarians & groups together in other to strengthen the vegetarian cause in Africa. We hope with the congress we can begin to network, hold regular events as well as building structures that will positively affect the vegetarian movement in Africa. If you have not yet made up your mind to attend the congress, there is still time to do so. The congress will enable us to begin to build a future for the vegetarian movement in Africa. In the words of a marketing guru ''The future is not some place we are going to but one we are creating. The future is not to be found but to be created'. Which is to say thinking about the future is all about being proactive.

Those that are interested to give talks or have something to share - do let me know as soon as possible to include you in the programme.

Some of the possible speakers are:

• Isaac Dekoacha the IVU Africa Co-ordinator
• Nitin Mehta MBE Founder & President Young Indians Vegetarians (UK)
• Prof Nduka Okoh Former Vice Chancellor University of Benin
• Varaha Owoyemi - from Togo
• Prof Samuel Nnandi Rivers State University of Science & Technology
• Rev Fr Igani of Liberal Catholic Church
• Ms Angeli Olorunsogo of Convenant University & Author of Living Stronger, Longer Stronger - An adovocate of Raw foods and vegan lifestyle in Nigeria.
• Nicolas Le Roux - Cote D Ivoire
• Korblah Korbla Wisdom - Ghana
• Leaders of the various religious& spiritual groups etc

There is no formal registration for the congress. However there will be registration at the congress venue at:
India Culture Centre (ICA)
2 Cappa Avenue, Palmgrove Bus-stop, Palmgrove Estate, Lagos

All the food at the congress will be vegan.

Participants coming from countries in the W/African sub-region and beyond will be provided with free accommodation at centers and facilities of some of the groups following the vegetarian way of life in Nigeria. However if a person requires hotel accommodation then he will have to pay for it. We can help the person book a good hotel.

Dec 8 is the main event day and the activities will include talks, food fair, exhibition, food sampling, meals planning, cooking competition, cooking demonstration etc.Vegetarians in the sub-region will showcase their cooking skills, products & projects.

We hope to invite the government to declare the congress open and present prizes to winners of the cooking competition. We also hope to invite officials from the ministry of health for participation and observation.

On Dec 9, there will a lecture at the Seventh Day Adventist Babcock University, cooking demonstration. There will a meeting to set up a formal West Africa Network to advance the vegetarian cause in the sub-region,

The official language is English with translation into French and vice versa.

Dec 10 is the great Walk For Animals on International Animal Rights Day. The starting point is the NSPCA Shelter -which is the only Animal shelter in W/Africa. From the shelter, we will move to the Government office to meet with government officials to protest government neglect of animals issues. It will be the first of such a Walk in W/Africa. There will be a float through town where we will be a meeting with the Governor of the state and the lawmakers to request them to address animal abuses in Nigeria. The Walk For Animals will be in partnership with the Nigeria Network of NGOS & civil society groups and many others will join in the walk.

From the Government office, the participants will move to the destitute colony/ home to render community service of serving free vegetarian food to the inmates of the home. We hope to feed several hundreds of the inmates to highlight how easy to feed people with vegetarian food, demonstrate that vegetarian living in the solution to hunger in Sub-Sahara Africa and to the 54 million Nigerians that go to bed hungry without food every day. If possible the cooking will take place at the destitute colony and serve to the inmates.

Click on picture to see a larger size                          

Visiting Nigeria: Requirements

For you to enter Nigeria, you will need a formal letter of invitation to obtain a visa from the Nigeria Embassy or High Commission. I will be delighted to send you a letter if you make such a request to help with your visa processing.

However, for those in the W/Africa sub-region, there is free movement of persons within the sub-region.

Let me have details of your flight and arrival date and I will pick you up from the Airport to the hotel. The Nigeria Vegetarian Society office is very close to the International Airport. Just 5 mins drive from the airport.

The cost for the hotel rooms range from $60-$100 per night. Some organizations are willing to provide free accommodation to those who cannot afford the hotel fees . You have to inform me on time to put the organizations on notice.

Feeding: We will provide free food to all the delegates throughout the congress. We shall however welcome voluntary donations. Participants will be treated to a wide variety of African & continental vegan foods.

Those who wish to give talks, make presentations, take part in exhibitions, cooking competition, cooking demonstration etc., should send me details of such presentations so as to include in the brochure.

One of the speakers at the congress will be Professor Samuel Nnadi of the Rivers State University of Science & Technology, remember him? The professor that gave a lecture warning against the danger of eating dead animals. We are calling on speakers to send in details of the papers they wish to present.

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and Lagos is a mega city & has the largest concentration of the black people on earth. Come, share and have a feel of the vegetarian movement in Africa. We are looking forward to seeing you in Nigeria.

For A Vegetarian Africa.
Emmanuel Eyoh, Nigeria Vegetarian Society, Suite 19,Clemco Plaza, 22 Latif Salami St, International Airport Rd, Ajao Estate, Lagos, Tel 234-8037226279