Today, Monday, October 9, the programme for the 2023 edition of the annual Olokun Festival begins in grand style. Olokun Festival is the annual cultural fiesta organised by the Olokun Festival Foundation, a cultural promotion outfit under the leadership of the Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Abiodun Ige Adams, who is also the chief promoter of the organisation.
In truth, Olokun Festival is, no doubt, the biggest cultural event in Lagos, with the ancient town of Badagry always the venue.
Every year, tourists from across the world gather at the front of Sultan Beach, Badagry in Lagos State to savour the serene ambience of nature giving the festival the needed atmosphere of a global event. Annually, Olokun festival is a two weeks programme with various other programmes lined up for the event. But the grand finale is no doubt the king of all the festivals in Lagos State.
This year, the annual festival is a 10-day programme that is loaded with various programmes like the Press Conference, Prayer to Almighty God, Ayo Olopon, Boat Regatta, Festival Float, Quiz Competition, Lecture, Beauty Pageant and the grand finale of the festival. All these activities are geared towards achieving the best in terms of standard and quality of the festival.
After the Press Conference today, the programme begins tomorrow, Tuesday, October 10, with Prayers to Almighty God. The programme is mainly a spiritual and religious encounter with the most high God. Muslims, Christians and Traditional Believers will come together to offer prayers for the organisation. Prayer to almighty God is one event that reflects the beliefs of the organisation in seeking the face of almighty God in ensuring that this year’s festival is successful.
On Friday, October 13, the Olokun Festival Lecture/Yoruba Quiz Competition will be held at the Oodua House in Ikeja, Lagos. The lecture and the Yoruba Quiz competition is an intellectual programme that will broaden people’s knowledge about sundry issues: social, political, cultural and educational. It focuses on the need to restore the core values of Yoruba race, as well as engendering unity among the stakeholders. It teaches the young and the old the moral values of Omoluabi and the significance of promoting the cause of our race.
For instance, the Beauty Pageant is a normal tradition in the festival and this year’s edition promises to be great. However, the OFF’s beauty pageant showcases two things: beauty and brains. Through the pageant, OFF explores the beautiful world of the beauty Queens and tests their intelligence, capacity, character, strength, mood and brilliance.
The major focus is to drive tourism and explore the tourism potentials of the venue. Many are those that didn’t know Badagry is so rich with various tourism sites like the first storey building in Nigeria and the “Point of No Return” where slave trade was perfected in those days. These and many other attractions are key tourism destinations that brought Badagry to the limelight as one of the foremost sites for tourists.
Apart from all these, it is pertinent to say also that as the festival drives tourism, it also enhances the economic posterity of the town. Tourists and participants at the festival throng the Sultan Beach to see for themselves the beauty of nature and they go home refreshed that God has been kind to humanity.
Olokun Festival Foundation has also used the festival to boost the economic potential of the host town. Residents of Badagry are always happy whenever the festival approaches because they know what it means to cater to the needs of over 30,000 guests that visit the town for the festival. Bills are being paid for food, hotel, accommodation, entertainment and other logistics. And all the money is injected into the economy of Badagry and its environ.
Honestly, let us give it to Olokun Festival Foundation for footing the bills of this cultural fiesta single-handedly without any sponsor: either government or corporate organisations. From my findings, Olokun Festival usually gulps over N100 million annually, especially now that the economic situation of the country is at its lowest ebb.
If a non-governmental organisation like the OFF could embark on such a huge cultural promotion activity and project without any support from anybody, it shows nothing but the commitment and determination of the Oodua People’s Congress and its members toward reclaiming the lost glory of Yoruba race. It also shows their zeal to use such festivals to market Yoruba culture, tradition and heritage to the global community.
That is why it is very important for the Lagos State Government, which is the host state, to keep the hope alive by joining hands with the OFF to make the annual fiesta a global event. In the whole of the South West, Osun Osogbo is the only festival that is recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Other festivals like Olokun in Lagos, Olojo in Ife, Oranmiyan in Oyo, Olumo in Abeokuta, Oya in Ira, Kwara State and Okota in Arigidi-Akoko in Ondo State can be recognised as well by UNESCO because of their spiritual, economic, cultural contents and attraction to Yoruba race. Those festivals are the pride of our race and we need to raise the bar by setting the global standard that will make the festival marketable to the world .
So, I am appealing to all the six South West governors to look beyond the Federal Government’s allocation and funds generated through oil and divert a bit using tourism and cultural revolution mechanisms to drive the economy of their respective states.
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Also on this year’s Olokun Festival, there are other programmes that have been included to strengthen the spiritual bond between all the participants and their God. This spiritual affinity is beyond religion, but it gives a vista of new hope for the entire country.
For the first time in history, there will be a vigil and prayer session to be conducted at the front of Sultan Beach between 1am and 3am on the eve of the grand finale. The prayer is to seek blessing, peace and tranquillity for Nigeria, Yorubaland as well as all sons and daughters of our race. The spiritual import is to seek the face of the almighty God in solving the various challenges in Yorubaland.
Also on the day of the grand finale, the Arugba Aje Olokun will be ushered in to pray for all participants. That is the spiritual symbol of the annual fiesta.
On the issue of security, trust the OPC under the leadership of the Aare Onakakanfo. There will not be a hitch. All arrangements have been concluded to beef up the security of the area before, during and after the event.
It is surely going to be a pleasant experience sharing the best moments in a serene environment like Sultan Beach, Badagry.
. Aderemi writes from Lagos.
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