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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye
Many Nigerians, irrespective of the part of the country they live, always look forward to some annual festivals of the tribe or town they belong to. Some travel long distances to take part in such festivals.
To reduce cost and the risks associated with traveling long distances among other reasons, some people of the same ethnic groups have come up with an idea of organising such festivals wherever they live.
Such is the case with Usen Efik (Efik Day) of Nkot Mbon Ndito Efik in Abuja. The festival is gradually gaining a life of its own and is giving residents of the Federal Capital Authority a feel of the annual Yuletide Calabar Festival and Efik cultural heritage. It holds about a month before the one in Calabar kicks off.
The third edition of the festival was held recently. The emphasis again was taking the warning by the United Nations (UN), that many languages and cultures will go extinct, especially in Nigeria, if adequate measures are not taken to preserve them.
At the maiden edition in 2016, parents expressed fear that their kids were not communicating in the Efik dialect and vowed to do something about it. And by the third edition, according to the convener, John Offiong: “Not only do we promote our culture but our language is spoken by our children. They are dressed in our cultural attires and are excited to be affiliated with our masquerades one of the major aims of Usen Efik Initiative.”
Usen Efik is a cultural organisation of the Efik within the Federal Capital Territory whose purpose is to promote Efik culture and heritage and enhance cultural harmony with other cultures in the nation’s capital, Abuja:
“It is a day we set aside to showcase our Efik culture and identity by displaying traditional dances, attires, poems, dramas, masquerades and food. This is usually a day of solidarity and love, thanksgiving and opportunity to share with our neighbours of other cultures in our adopted home, Abuja.
“In the first year (2016), we had an attendance of over 700 people, we had over 1,000 people in the second year (2017) and in the third year, 2018 we had over 2,000 people from Abuja and outside Abuja. We had over 20 different masquerades on display.
“This year we had our distinguished sons and daughters like Senator Florence Ita Giwa (Eka Iban Efik), the Head of Service Mrs. Winifred Oyo Ita, Senator Prince Otu, Ntufam Hilliard Eta, permanent secretary, Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Grace Gekpe and the chairman at the occasion, Ntufam Eyo Nsa Whiley.
“This year, we introduced the evening session, which featured a live band and food court. Usen Efik is fast becoming the biggest Efik carnival outside Calabar. It was nice to see Efik from different backgrounds come together as one which shows the unity and love we try to promote among our people.
“Usen Efik is basically a day of thanksgiving and fun and we are grateful to God that we have been able to achieve that in the past three years. The event serves as a free fun outdoor gathering for culture and art.
“We hope to include support programmes, such as free history, language, career holiday camps for children, job centres, as well as a proposed FCT/Cross River State School Exchange programmes in the nearest future.”
Whiley said: “Love is everything, if we have love outside our country home, it is beautiful thing that can sustain us. This is a beautiful event and it will help those that hardly travel home on Christmas to have a feel of Calabar carnival.”
Mrs. Ita urged that love and unity displayed be made to continue. She described this year’s edition as “very grand.” She advocated for scholarships for brilliant but poor children of Efik extraction. She also called for skills acquisition centers to be established in the FCT to encourage and empower youths to be self employed.
Ita-Giwa said: “We have to be together. I am happy that no other place has the kind of rich cultural heritage like the Efik. I thank the organisers for making this happen, we must continue to promote our culture, unity and love amongst our people wherever we find ourselves.”
