Lagos to host 2025 All Africa Music Awards

The African Union (AU), in collaboration with the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), has officially selected Lagos, Nigeria, as the host city for the 2025 edition of the prestigious awards.

The announcement was made at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Angela Martins, the Head of Culture at the African Union.

Scheduled to take place from November 25 to 30, 2025, the awards ceremony will include various side events, notably the vibrant Music Village Festival.

Martins highlighted this year’s theme, “Unstoppable Africa,” and the choice of Lagos as the event’s host city, calling it a reflection of the city’s dynamic culture and its representation of modern African music.

Music is not merely sound, it is a strategy. From Dar es Salaam to Accra and other parts of the world, music flows like a river through our culture, and it connects, heals, and moves us forward,” Martins said, emphasizing the AU’s enduring partnership with AFRIMA.

The AFRIMA 2025 calendar will begin with a call for entries on May 20, inviting submissions from artists across Africa and its diaspora. Artists can enter works in various categories and genres, celebrating the excellence of African music, in line with the AU’s Agenda 2063, which emphasizes culture as a key driver of Africa’s development.

Mike Dada, AFRIMA’s President, reiterated the importance of the awards as a tool for continental integration. “This is to ensure we have an enduring platform called AFRIMA to be used as a rallying point to integrate the continent, for peace, job creation, and for telling our own stories,” Dada said.

The journey to AFRIMA 2025 will also involve events in other African countries such as Morocco, Tanzania, and Côte d’Ivoire, as well as stops in London, UK, and Paris, France.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had declared in April that the state is ready to host the 2025 AFRIMA. During a meeting with a high-level delegation from the African Union and the AFRIMA International Committee, the governor expressed his administration’s commitment to developing the creative and tourism industries as a major part of the state’s growth strategy

One of the key pillars of our administration’s development agenda is the creative industry. Since I took office, we’ve been intentional about building a vibrant creative ecosystem supporting film, music, fashion, photography, and cultural tourism,” Sanwo-Olu said. “

We are happy to receive the AFRIMA team; we will do it, and we will be part of this. This is one initiative we are proud to accommodate. Our team will work together with your team to action this. We thank the African Union and the AFRIMA Committee for trusting Lagos.”