Lagos hosted the headline concert of Creative Africa Nexus Weekend (CANEX WKND 2026) on Saturday, November 7, with Davido, Fally Ipupa and Flavour leading a star-studded bill at the Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts in Iganmu.
The concert was the entertainment highlight of the four-day gathering, which ran from November 5 to 8 under the theme "One People, United in Culture, Creating for the World." CANEX WKND is organised by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) through its Creative Africa Nexus initiative and was hosted this year by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
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- Headliners: Davido, Fally Ipupa and Flavour
- Also on the bill: Cali-Ber Tha Grime, Sabrina Francis and DJ duo Wanni X Handi
- Venue: Main Bowl, Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, formerly the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos
- The wider weekend covered film, music, fashion, publishing, gastronomy and sport
A concert at a restored National Theatre
The show brought live music back to the restored National Theatre complex, the same venue that hosted the FESTAC 77 festival nearly five decades ago. Programme listings put the concert in the Main Bowl on Saturday evening, with separate pre-registration required for access, according to Vanguard's reporting.
Guests across the four days included actor Uzo Aduba, filmmaker Funke Akindele, veteran actor Richard Mofe-Damijo and South African star Thuso Mbedu, alongside leading voices from film, music, fashion, sport, publishing, gastronomy and business. RMD used the opening ceremony to call on Nigeria and other African countries to do more to turn Nollywood and Afrobeats into lasting wealth, according to reports from the weekend.
NewsTweetNaija notes that pre-event coverage listed the announced line-up ahead of the show. The reports reviewed confirm the line-up and the event; they should be read as the billed programme for the night, in the terms the organisers published.
Afreximbank puts money behind the creative economy
Alongside the performances, Afreximbank announced a 118 million dollar financing package to boost Nigeria's creative industry at CANEX WKND 2026, according to reports from the event. The reports describe the package as announced financing arrangements and a grant — not evidence that the entire amount has already been disbursed to creative entrepreneurs.
That distinction matters for an industry where headline figures are common and follow-through is the real story. CANEX itself is built around that follow-through: finance, intellectual property, technology, skills, investment and market access for Africa's creative businesses.
What happens next
CANEX WKND 2026 concluded on Sunday, November 8, with cultural excursions, gastronomy activities, a songwriting camp and a Legends Football Match at Onikan Stadium in the closing programme. The concert, though, is the image most people will keep: Davido, Fally Ipupa and Flavour on one Lagos stage, in a restored National Theatre, at the centre of a weekend about turning African culture into an industry.
Credit: Vanguard reports of November 6–7, 2026, via Nuus NG and QNC News; CANEX programme and Afreximbank reports.
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