Asa Day gathers momentum, to showcase Yoruba culture

The Blueroof of LTV 8, Agidingbi at Ikeja would on November 21 be agog with high profile personalities from the South West region and other visitors as Lagos State hosts Asa-Day championed by Prince Joel Olaniyi Oyatoye, popularly known as Baba Asa, the President and Founder of Asa Day World Wide Inc. Canada.

Asa Day World Wide is borne out of the desire to continually promote and preserve the indigenous culture of the Yoruba race.

At the event where the rich Yoruba culture would be showcased, there would be live band performances by Alhaji Babatunde Muslim Haruna Ishola, Chief Aremu Ayila Ajobiewe Senior and Alhaji Azeez Ayilara, Ajobiewe Junior, Oloye Agberako, Alajota Group, Adunni and Nefretiti group, Gelede group from Isale Eko, and Agere from Ikorodu among others to add colour to the day.

In a media engagement to herald Asa-Day, Prince Oyatoye said that tourism cannot flourish effectively without the cultural components. He stressed the need for Nigeria’s vast and rich cultural heritage to be strategically repositioned as a driver to lift the nation’s economy.

According to him, Nigeria stands a great chance of surviving the current economic lapse, if it could focus more on cultural tourism. Nigeria, he also said, can forge a solid partnership with symbiotic foreign countries for culture and tourism in developing and marketing their potentials to boost patronage of local and foreign tourists.

“Cultural industry is people-oriented, as it includes the making of handicraft by the rural dwellers. In this regard, the government should support and encourage the programmes and activities of this industry as it boosts the economic base of rural dwellers and discourages rural-urban drift,” he said.

While he lamented that the arts, culture and tourism sector has been denied government attention and financial empowerment, Oyatoye stressed the urgent need for meaningful and sustainable financing of cultural development by the government, financial institutions and multinational organisations in Nigeria.

Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Solomon Bonu said that this year alone, the ministry has supported different cultural events and festivals including the hosting of the Kayokayo and Ebi festivals in Epe, the Agidigbo festival in Badagry and the Olokun festival among others.

He called on all cultural enthusiasts to key into the initiative and begin to innovate creative items that can be exported by tourists from other countries whenever they visit Lagos State.