Culture

Prince Asafa Reveals Essence Of Oto Awori LCDA Cultural Beauty Pageant

Published

3 years ago

November 30, 2023

Chairman of Oto-Awori LCDA, Prince Musibau Adekunle Asafa has decided to organise a cultural beauty pageant in commemoration of the 50th coronation anniversary celebration of his Royal Majesty, Oba Momodu Afolabi Ashafa, Aladi Onijanikin of Ijanikin Kingdom.

“The essence of the pageant tagged ‘OMOGE ASAFA CULTURAL BEAUTY PAGEANT’ is to encourage young ladies who are between the ages of 18 to 25years to showcase their talents, skills and intelligence,” he said.

According to him, in harnessing culture and tourism development in the council area, the prospect and issues surrounding areas of interest and promotion needs to be taken seriously.

“It will interest you to know that the Council is highly vast in tourism potentials with historic towns and diversified cultural heritage embodying people’s traditions, religion and belief, festivals and ceremonies.

“However, we need to identify these areas of interest and their values in order for us to drive the concept with the needed capacity; since the commencement of Tourism and Heritage Maintenance Unit as a responsibility of all Councils in the State, we have no choice than to look inwards so that these areas of interest can be tapped for revenue generation and development.”

The Tourism Officer, Mrs Keripe Deborah who was optimistic that the potential of tourism and culture abounds in the council area if well tapped. In her statement, she noted with deep responsibility that the approval of the pageant by the chairman is an eye opener in many directions; she explained that the upcoming event will be a continuous one and that all residents regardless of where they come from will partake in it.

“Though, the pageant is organised for communities within Ijanikin in commemoration of the 50th coronation anniversary of Oba Momodu Afolabi Ashafa, we are working on various means that will make sure every towns and communities in the Council area are engaged in other tourism and cultural heritage potential programmes as events unfolds.”

Winner, first runner-up, second runner-up of the beauty pageant will go home with attractive prizes and free Lagos State skill acquisition category of choice with consolation prizes.

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Culture

WAKE UP! Art Exhibition Returns for a Second Act

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Mariam Balogun

The contemporary art and photography exhibition “Wake Up!” is back again for a second edition.

Curated by Awele Onwordi, Wake Up! 2 exhibition pays homage to the Nigerian youth and burgeoning street culture which many of its contributing artists reference in their works.

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Titled “Young, Wild, Free”, the exhibition celebrates the creativity, resilience, freedom and cultural influence found in Nigerian youth.

Taking aim at societal issues and economic concerns, the exhibit reflects the youth and their refusal to compromise or bow despite all the challenges stacked against them while charting youth culture through art, music, fashion, skateboarding, photography and community.

The exhibition will be held, once again, at the Angel and Muse Gallery at 25 Sumbo Jibowu street off Ribadu Road off Awolowo Road in Ikoyi.

It will open on Saturday 5 September 2026 and will run until 11 September 2026
This second edition which focuses on celebrating, nurturing and exploring artistic practices rooted in youth and street culture will feature works from DENCITY and SUPERGLIDER HOUSE.

Exhibiting artists include Ajilore Kehinde – their work is deeply influenced by Nigerian street culture and works of other artists like Slawn, Peters Ejiro, etc, Chuka Onwordi – graphic designer who embodies themes of death, melancholy and beauty in his works, ZIDYEP – Abuja based creative whose works move between digital and physical spaces through art, graphic design and air brushing , Franklyn Okoye – graphic designer and artist whose works explore themes of identity and hyper-reality, Awele Onwordi – founder & curator of WAKE UP and multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans character art, creative logo design, album covers and more , Oluchi Kogolo – digital illustrator whose work explores street culture, personality and storytelling through a raw and playful visual style and Kozetuo Apeji – multidisciplinary artists who work explores experimental approaches to problem solving through both digital and traditional art forms.

Commenting on the exhibition in her curatorial statement, Awele noted that “despite economic instability, limited opportunities and socio-political challenges, Nigerian youth continue to shape culture through music, fashion, art, skateboarding, raves, photography and community.”

Also read: Five rising stars battle for 2026 Headies Next Rated

Continuing and harping on the raison d’etre of the exhibition she said, “Young, Wild and Free exists to celebrate Nigerian youth while also creating a platform that supports and amplifies them.”