FESTAC '77 succeeded the Dakar 1966 festival as the second pan-African cultural festival. Hosted by Nigeria under General Olusegun Obasanjo's government, it ran from 15 January to 12 February 1977 with delegations from 56 African and African-diaspora countries — including the United States, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Papua New Guinea.
The festival's permanent legacies: the National Theatre Iganmu (built by the Bulgarian state company Technoexportstroy at a cost of N140m); FESTAC Town in Amuwo Odofin (5,031 housing units originally for delegates, since absorbed into Lagos); the Festival of Black and African Arts (FESTAC) trust. The opening ceremony at the National Stadium Surulere featured 22,000 performers. The closing ceremony at Tafawa Balewa Square was addressed by Lt-Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo.
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti boycotted the official festival and ran his own counter-festival at the Shrine, leading to the burning of his Kalakuta Republic by soldiers on 18 February 1977 — six days after FESTAC closed — and the death of his mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti from injuries sustained during the raid.