With the whole city of Osogbo agog, this year’s Osun Osogbo festival lived up to its billing at the Osun State capital as one of West Africa’s most outstanding festivals.

The festival takes place every year in Osogbo, Nigeria, celebrating the goddess of fertility, Osun.

It renews the contract between humans and the divine, when the people expect the goddess of Osun to offer grace to the community.

From the departure of the Votary Maid to the main arena of Osun Sacred Groov, the city of Osogbo felt the pulsating spirit of the festival.

In his address at the grand finale on Friday, Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke said, from time immemorial, Osun Osogbo has gained global recognition.

In felicitating with Kabiyesi, the Ataoja- in -Council, all traditional leaders and all pillars of cultural society, Governor Adeleke said the occasion was to witness “a rebranded festival which celebrates our traditionalism. As our culture is our bloodline, we all recognize where we are coming from and who we are as a people.

“Our culture and tradition are therefore the foundation of our strength as a people. We are therefore obliged to deploy culture as a tool for state and national development. This is the practice in Asia. That is the secret of the successes of South Korea, Japan and many of the Asian tigers.

“This year’s celebration therefore provides the greatest opportunity ever for our people to have a new look at our culture and tradition. We are challenged to capitalise on our rich culture to build an economically sound and virile nation.

“As a government, our administration has a tourism and cultural industry agenda. During the campaign and within the transition committee , we devised far-reaching programmes and policies for the arts, culture and tourism industry. We indeed created a new holistic approach by adding the creative industry as a whole.

“Our agenda targets the genuine globalization of our cultural heritage as a major building blocks of our economy. We expand beyond mere celebration of Osun Osogbo festival and other assets to making them the cornerstone of a truly cultural and tourism industry. We are creating a series of global cultural events that will attract millions of tourists all over the world. We are integrating our local economy into a global creative and cultural industry.

“Hence our rich cultural heritage will become a cherished product of value at home and abroad. Our agenda is to create a Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem out of Osun State as the cradle of the Yoruba race.”

As a starting point Adeleke said his administration had facelifted the Osun groove promising that the state would witness other world-class programmes in the areas of arts, culture and entertainment.

Source: TCN