Follow Us on Google
Nigeria’s football ace, Victor Osimhen has suddenly become the most sought after defence wrecking attacker in global soccer game. He worked for his ratings and rankings, sometimes with broken nose and heads as evidence of his growing threat to the defense of opposing teams.
From Soccer buffs, to coaches and sport reporters, to this young Nigerian footballer, there are consensus that Osimhen deserves his new mega bucks ranking and to the bargain, an ambassador of sports Culture of Nigeria.
No doubt, Nigerians within and in Diaspora, have taken to marketing the best of our country in sports, fashion, Culinary expressions , medicine music and you name it, doing things differently, creating jobs and making us proud.
Just last Sunday, the cultural curtains of Nigeria biggest cultural tourism festival, National Festival of Arts and Culture (Nafest) was shut down in Lagos, scaling the frontiers of national and international profiling assessment and evaluation.
Lagos state government, led by Governor Babajide sanwo-0lu literally took to deep interpretation of Theme” Culture and peaceful coexistence” and geared it to power refreshing interrogation of where Nigeria must be and should be. By the way, Lagos state was the overall winner of the festival.
A record attendance of thirty states, with the strategic intervention of culture driven economic indicators on Youth empowerment through skills acquisition, children easy writings on the imperatives of culture as oxygenation of unity and security, practical involvement of young persons on the reorientation of the value chain of time tested our heritage way of life through drama competitions in music and dance, food culture and fashion, poetry, all spiced to engage the young persons, many who were in a city for the first time on how important to keep Nigeria united through culture.
There’s no mistaken the fact that Nafest has earned its place as a veritable culture tourism product, which even more than sports, is Nigeria’s major enabler of peace and national integration.
From kaduna, to Rivers, Edo to Plateau, Ekiti and Lagos, this Otunba Segun Runsewe inspired new honey comb of National Cultural Diplomatic presence, has left us with dreams and intents of projecting those things which unite us.
Accommodation facilities were deliberately provided to strengthen relationships and not never based on tribe or tongues. Indeed, sharing hostel and hotel facilities during the week long Eko Nafest, were tailored to drive togetherness and tolerance and love for each other. It stuck as a winning effort.
This story am about to recap here, caught the attention Lagos governor and his delectable wife, Mama Nafest. A young girl, Precious Olabanjo was denied access in the essay competition, themed to challenge the creativity of Nafest children from the 37 states. The rules allows just one representation per state and our SS2 student of Model secondary school, Alabaka Ondo state, was surplus to requirement.
The little girl cried her eyes out because she will not be counted among those who may give Nigeria heads over on how to Rethink culture as fulcrum of our peaceful coexistence. Depressed, she was thinking of something strange, until a journalist caught her in a corner, and brought her very interesting story to the attention of Otunba Segun Runsewe who also took Precious story to governor Babajide sanwo-0lu and his wife. Mama Nafest, Mrs Ibijoke sanwo-0lu is indeed a mother to the children who thronged her home in marina. The humble couple took time off to wine, dine and took pictures with the future culture ambassadors and their minders.
These and many other social interactions and interventions, clearly factored Nafest as a bridge builder, a socioeconomic and political platform desirable to promote black Africa’s biggest nation of 200 million people with the most diverse culture and tradition.
It’s on this score, one wish that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organisation( UNESCO), takes more than a passive and passing interest in Nafest ecosystem.
From its colours, to music, dance, food, fashion, poetry, children Cultural games, skills acquisition opportunities and downstream cultural tourism market, unesco has a duty to bring to the world, the unique educational, scientific and cultural heritage opportunities inherent in Nafest, particularly at this time when irritations and songs of war seems to drown global peace and economic prosperity.
Nafest is gift to Nigeria and the world, with lessons so actively situated and captured, an iconic opportunity for a new Nigeria and indeed, the world. It is instructive to say any nation without identifiable culture, is a lost people and nation. Nafest deserves a unesco badge, certainly long overdue.
