Chief Gani Adams, the national coordinator of the Oodua People's Congress as well as the promoter of Olokun Festival, in this interview with Olalekan Olabulo, speaks on the importance of Osun festival and ways it could be improved. Excerpts.IT is another season of Osun Osogbo festival. What is the significance of the festival' The significance of Osun Osogbo festival is that it has continued to portray cultural renaissance to the people and at the same time giving signal to the entire world that it is very important and imperative to project our cultural heritage. In what ways has the festival contributed to tourism and cultural development in Nigeria' Let us begin by looking at the number of the people that converge at the venue of the festival every year. Yearly, we have nothing less than 500,000 people partaking in the fiesta. This reflects in the entire South Western part of Nigeria, not only in Osogbo or Osun State.People who come to the festival hire transport buses from different locations in the South West and other parts of the country. If you are talking about the economic potentials, it is very high. At the same time, the name Osogbo was registered based on that festival. If not for the festival, Osogbo would not have been as popular as it is. When you get to Brazil and other countries, the name Osogbo is synonymous with Osun Festival. When you are talking of the economic potentials, it is very high and culturally it is very massive. What has been the contributions of the festival to the development of Yoruba culture' The festival broadens the knowledge of a lot of people. It increases their understanding of the Yoruba culture. Osun Osogbo is the most popular festival in the South-West. It is the festival that gave a rise to other festivals that have become popular, especially in the South-West. What is the essence of the festival to indigenes of Osogbo town' The people of Osogbo have realised that the festival is key to their popularity.They have also realised that one of the keys of economic success in the town is the festival. The festival is also responsible for making Osogbo a cultural destination. It is very important for them to know that without Osun, Osogbo would not have been as popular as it is today. For many years, your organisation has been one of the major stakeholders in the festival. What development have you noticed so far' The major development is the recognition of the festival by UNESCO. UNESCO has recognised the festival and the Osun grove has been approved as a world tourism site. The participation of the state and federal government has increased. The establishment of the World Black Centre also portrays the importance of holding that festival. There is a lot of advantage in organising the festival. What areas do you think have to be improved upon in the festival' The festival has been improving yearly; there has always been one development or another. I believe that the grove is being developed every year and various improvements are being injected into the festival. I believe there have been many developments in the festival. What has been the contribution of your organisation to the festival'Our contribution cannot be quantified. When you talk about our contribution, you are talking about adding nothing less than 200,000 people to the crowd at the festival. We add figures to the crowd. Without the crowd there would be nothing called a festival. Before you can make a festival to be very attractive, you will have to depend on the number of the people that attend the festival. We inject nothing less than 200,000 people into the festival. The contribution of organisation to the economic success of the town annually cannot be quantified. The people of Osogbo always know the difference. Within four days of the festival our group always improves the economy. We contribute annually in different forms to make the community livelier.Can you give a rough estimate of what your association contributes to the festival annually' We contribute nothing less than N200million to the Nigerian economy during Osun Osogbo festival every year. That includes the cost of transportation, hotel bills and other arrangements by our organisation during the festival. Has your organisation enjoyed the necessary recognition from the government, whether at the state or federal level' We are always recognised by the Ataoja of Osogbo, who is the paramount ruler of Osogbo land anytime that we are at the grove. We are always accorded due recognition. Whenever they want to organise the festival, they write official letter to us. They always include our organisation in their brochures; our adverts are always in the brochures, even when we don t pay for such advert because of the recognition they accord us. If you are talking of recognition, we are duly recognised. Has your organisation received any recognition from the Osun State government and the Federal Government' Definitely. Whenever we are at the grove, the governor of the state acknowledges and recognises us in his speech. We don't need more than that. We are cultural promoters. We are not waiting for any recognition from any state government. At the same time, whenever we are having our festivals, governments officials and functionaries usually come there. For instance at the last Oodua Festival, the Osun State governor sent one of his special advisers to represent him. When you are talking about recognition, we are well recognised. Since the exit of Susan Wenger, we have not had somebody as effective as her. What do you think can be done to replace her' First of all, if the festival continues to be popularised, another Susan Wenger will emerge. A person like Susan Wenger, who will stay in Osogbo is not easy to come by; somebody who developed the grove, left her country and even got married to somebody from Osogbo is rare and not easy to replace. The continuous popularisation of Osun Osogbo Festival will lead to the discovery of another person like the late Susan Wenger. Do you think the children of Susan Wenger would be able to fill the vacuum left behind by the demise of the late Osun Osogbo icon' I don't know if she had children but I know many people that were trained by her, she empowered a lot of people. There are many people who call themselves students of Susan Wenger. She trained them about culture, artefacts and others.You suggested that for a new Susan Wenger to emerge, the state and the federal government should make the festival more popular.What do you think can be done to make the festival more popular' We should try and make the festival more international. It is beyond our local television, it is beyond just being televised live on local television stations.The federal and state governments are trying by showing it live. It is necessary that they internationalise the festival through international media like the CNN, Aljazeera and Sky News so that the international world and the global setting can realise that a festival is holding in Osogbo.As far as I am concerned, it is the most organised festival in Nigeria, if not in West Africa.
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