Opinion
Omooba as essential Omoluabi: Tunde Irukera at 54
By Tunde Olusunle
He is not the prototype Nigerian “big man” or politician who has erected barricades, boundaries and boulders between himself and the public he serves on one hand. He hasn’t placed hedges and gulfs between him and his constituents, either. He is not one of those who gloat in triumphalism and ego tripping as they take in images of guests in their waiting rooms, on the monitors of their close circuit cameras. He is available, accessible and amiable for that matter, demystifying protocol in many instances to underscore his pragmatism. He can be intolerant of red-tapism. And you are most likely to find him in his trademark corporate attire, which has defined his endeavours and enterprise, into the fourth decade now. He is humble, courteous, cosmopolitan as you will notice presently, even on your first encounter with him.
Until his appointment as Director-General of the erstwhile Consumer Protection Council, (CPC), January 2018, he was a private, quiet, diligent attorney and solicitor. He has since reengineered the CPC into a more pointed, more proactive, consumer-targeted “Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission,” (FCCPC). The new FCCPC is designed to promote market competition, protect consumers from errant service providers and to lead in seeking redress for the violation of consumer rights. The re-calibration of the mandate of the new FCCPC, necessitated the re-designation of his office to that of “Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission,” (EVC). Before he was invited to add value to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, he shuttled between Nigeria and the United States of America, (USA), where he had thriving practices and was regularly called up for intricate, knotty legal briefs.
At various times, he was affiliated with the defunct Rims Merchant Bank and Associated Properties and Trust Plc, both in Lagos. This was before he made forays into the USA where he first served as Partner, Thomas and Irukera, and subsequently with Partners, Attorneys and Counsellors LLC, both in Chicago. He will subsequently become a Partner with Simmon Cooper Partners in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub and erstwhile administrative capital. Landmark matters he was engaged in, include those of the federal government’s privatisation exercise; the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC) and the oil block bid rounds, respectively. He has equally functioned as legal consultant to the federal government and oil companies in extra-territorial litigations, among a book-length of judicial participations.
Babatunde Ayokunle Irukera, however, lost his preferred unobtrusive anonymity following his appointment into the public service about three and half years ago. His schedule thrusts him on the frontlines in defence of the hapless consumer, from the searing claws and gruelling grips of a motley service providers. Ours is a sociocultural environment where people are attuned to merely shake their heads in disbelief and throw up their hands in despair in the face of glaring below-par service. Irukera’s brief principally, however, is to ginger consumers across the spectrum, to insist on being served properly and satisfactorily. He is thus giving our typically reticent folks a new voice, as different from the subsisting acquiescence. And he is also standing bravely up to the demands of his responsibilities like a real warrior in the line of battle.
Barely months in office early August 2018, Irukera led his organisation to partner with the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC), to seal off popular Lagos-based Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. The company was found to have extended the expiry dates of its doughnut mix and fillings, which Irukera’s FCCPC believed unfair to consumers and potentially injurious to their health. A few days later, the FCCPC secured the injunction of a federal high court, restraining the South African terrestrial television service, Multichoice Nigeria Ltd, from hiking the cost of its services. In other instances, the FCCPC has compelled banks to refund illegal deductions from the accounts of their customers, where monies so creamed off, constitute part of the ever-rising profits of such financial institutions.
Under Irukera, the FCCPC has also been in the trenches with the masses over poor services rendered by various electricity distribution companies, notably the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, (AEDC), and its Ikeja counterpart, (IKEDC). Sharing his personal experience in 2020, Irukera said he procured N50,000 worth of energy, but was not connected to electricity for several hours. Elsewhere, the FCCPC chief executive has also called out the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, (PHEDC), for disconnecting consumers from the source of power supply without a 10-day prior notice from the date of bill delivery. He described the services of the PHEDC to states under its coverage as “oppressive and outrageous.”
Irukera’s mantra has consistently oscillated around the deployment of all the powers in the law books to protect consumer rights. And he is never shy of taking the battles to the doorsteps of erring institutions, privately or publicly owned, irrespective of potential personal risks or misconceptions. He recently upbraided operators in power sector of non-compliance with the regulations of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC). Such is the novel vibrancy, maybe militancy too, which Irukera’s milieu has brought to bear on the FCCPC. More than ever before, the organisation equally hosts regular consumer complaints’ fora at various locations across the country. By so doing, government is brought closer to the people. They are also enlightened to know that their voices can be heard in high places, away from the deafening din of the marketplace.
Less than a year into his stint in the public service, Irukera’s good works had compelled attention towards him as a competent contestant for elective office in his home state, Kogi. His constituents wanted him to take a shot at the governorship of the state. Sober, clear-headed, erudite, passionate about his geocultural roots, he was considered a good fit to potentially elevate governance in a state so massively endowed, but which had serially put forward its dregs, even when the stakes were high. With the quality and diversity of human capital, with the abundance of mineral resources and agrarian capital, with the intersection of Nigeria’s two largest rivers right at the heart of Kogi State, he believed he could galvanise development in the state if given a chance.
In a state which has raised the bar of electoral barbarism tinctured by state-orchestrated, daylight aerial gun attacks from a police helicopter directed on innocent voters on queue, circumspection prevailed. Yes, in a state where kinsmen of the sitting governor confirmed that his 2019 reelection was brazenly procured by the barrel of the gun, a “feat” popularised by the song with the ta-ta-ta-ta-ta refrain, it was better to err on the side of caution. There will be other opportunities in the future. The present, unfortunately, remains the innocent victim of the manner of gun-butt politics played in some parts of our beloved country.
For the determination, the courage, the tenacity Irukera has displayed in public service, you will be surprised that he is of royal ascendancy. His father, Oba Ayodele Irukera, a retired university administrator was in 2014, formally installed as the Elegbe of Egbe, Yagba West local government area of Kogi State. It is a first class traditional office. Egbe is synonymous with pre-independence missionary activities, which culminated in the establishment of the popular Titcombe College and the Evangelical Churches Winning All, (ECWA) Hospital, respectively, in the community. Appellation-crazed characters would typically festoon their necks and wrists with dangling and drooping bead works in public advertisement of their “royal-ness.” Not for Irukera who is content with his “non-aligned” description, much as he is rightly and deservedly a prince.
For him, delivering service with every altruism, impacting on the helpless, calling people’s attention to their rights under the law, are much more compelling than such mundane issues. He seems ever conscious of the third stanza of the old Nigerian national anthem, the 1960 “Nigeria we hail thee” song, which charges us to build a society where no man is oppressed. Tyranny, in the most innocuous, unsuspecting forms, as could be observed even in the deduction of inexplicable bank charges, must be forensically discovered, promptly reported and speedily addressed.
He is so unassuming, he will easily beat you to it if you both discussed a visit between yourselves and you delayed in taking the lead. Yes, he is cosmopolitan by orientation, but thoroughly African by DNA. Technological sophistication enables us all to discover addresses and locations, just by the tab on a button. His long years abroad and his sojourn in the corporate world have not taken away his earthiness. He is donning a tee shirt this evening, one of those rare days he has an early day at work. The southpaw that he is, he prefers his amala and okro soup in the same bowl, not succumbing to the chef-imposed “separation of powers,” between the main meal and its escort. This is Tunde Irukera, no fakery, no affectation. And Yagba, yes our own original variant of Yoruba, comes into the mix ever so regularly as we banter. He insists on walking you all the way to your car and waits to wave at you as you engage your gear. You can see the quintessential omoluabi essence around and about him.
Back home in Okunland, he keeps a keen eye on sociopolitical events and developments, offering guidance and assistance, most times away from public view. Coming from a part of the country where literacy is “the major industry,” Irukera is silently supporting the educational quests of many young people. He believes education opened the doors to the world for him and does his bit in giving back to the society on this score. He has also helped neighbourhoods and communities with potable water providing boreholes, weaning them off local streams and hand-dug wells. You will also find him on the list of willing subscribers to sundry humanitarian and communal causes.
Irukera was born September 4, 1968, in Kaduna, headquarters of the primordial north central state. He attended the University of Ilorin Staff School and the Federal Government College, Ilorin, between 1978 and 1985. He studied law at the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), with tap roots at the University of Ilorin, between 1985 and 1989, proceeding to the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, from 1989 to 1990. He subsequently underwent the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC), between 1990 and 1991. Consolidated in his pouch, is a most eventful aggregate of three decades of legal practice across climes, across time. At 26, Irukera got married to his heartthrob, former Foluke Mesaiyete on May 14, 1994. The union is blessed with wonderful children, two sons and a daughter.
With the approach of another electoral cycle early next year, Irukera has made a quiet statement by not obtaining the nomination forms of any political party. His primary commitment is to deliver successfully on his subsisting brief. He wishes for that day when the average Nigerian will be wholly and totally liberated from the wiles of mischievous service providers. He wants our people to develop and exercise the capacity to speak up, soro soke, in the face of bullying service mediums. He desires for them to know that the FCCPC is right behind them all the way, as they exercise their rights to be diligently and satisfactorily served. He will be glad to don his legal regalia in their defence, if push comes to shove.
Olusunle, PhD, poet, journalist, scholar and author is a Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, (NGE).
By Hamza Lamisi
No doubt that one of the expected big game Changers of the 10th National Assembly, particularly the Senate, is the emergence of a vocal voice who ran one of the country’s most persecuted election campaigns in Nigeria’s history. From the feminine gender in a male dominated political ecosystem to being transracial in a highly conservative District; a Christian in Muslim-saturated bargain table of stakeholders, from being single to inter-tribally married in a natively and culturally republic Ebira Land. Not only to contest in a struggling opposition party but to face the most ruthless Chief Security Officer of her State, from her District.
The odds were obviously too many but Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan upturned the guess – defeating the threatening ruling party and emerging the first female Senator Kogi State ever produced. She defined the turning point of Kogi Central’s representation in Nigeria’s bicameral Parliament. Unlike her colleagues from Kogi State who rode on the backing of the number one citizen of the State, Senator Natasha’s road to the red Chambers was never paved, it was a tough and rough journey of determination, persistence, unwavering dedication and commitment to a dream held in trust for the people.
She walked through the storms and she is shaped by the lessons – to remain bold, assertive, unbroken, unbeaten and unbowed by any circumstance, because only by struggle and perseverance freedom comes. Not unaware of the systemic dialogue, lobby and collaboration but Senator Natasha would not do so at the expense or in exchange of the People’s trust and mandate for which she swore oath to protect.
Stepping into the Senate as a survivor of election and litigation battles, and looking back to the unwavering support and uncommon trust of Kogi people and Nigerians by extension, notwithstanding already some months behind her fellow law makers, Senator Natasha was prepared to have the end justify the means. Barely 16 months from the very day of her swearing-in till date, Senator Natasha’s contributions and impact in the 10th Senate have left many wonder if she was a first time Senator or one elected from the minority opposition. Most popular and best performing member of the current National Assembly.
Just within one year in office, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan lit 30 kilometers of road networks across Kogi Central with over 2,000 solar powered streetlights. Over 1,300 women and youth were trained and empowered by the law maker. Senator Natasha has supported the tuition fee of over 353 vulnerable indigenous students at tertiary institutions nationwide. She has faciliated federal employment opportunities for various graduates and facilitate capacity building trainings and empowerment for many others.
She brought a reliable supply of portable water to Kogi Central communities with 12 water reticulation projects with each being a massive 50,000-liter solar-powered motorized water system, which serves 300 locations and provides, 1,800 fetching taps.
To draw legislation closer to the grassroot, Senator Natasha engaged 100 constituency aides both men and women across the 57 wards in Kogi Central. She has distributed 12 trucks of grains, 10, 000 wrappers for women, 20,000 notebooks, 5,000 school bags and reconstructed and remodeled Abdul Aziz Attah Memorial College Okene (AAAMCO), Okene to smart school.
Within one year in office, Senator Natasha has attracted employments in both federal agencies and private organizations to over 30 graduates from her constituency.
Ihima community has been without police station for the past 7 years, Senator Natasha embarked on total reconstruction of Ihima Police Station which was commissioned by the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.
Senator Natasha distributed 4 trucks of fertilizers totalling 2,400 bags of NPK and Urea fertilizers to Kogi Central farmers. Free Business CAC registration of 2,500 SMEs. She has empowered Kogi Central students from 12 selected tertiary institutions across Nigeria with multipurpose business cart and start up fund.
Commissioned six constituency offices in the five LGAs to make government closer to the people. Senator Natasha has sponsored two motions and two bills including the bill for the establishment of Nigeria Gold Reserve, the bill for the establishment of Ihima Federal Medical Centre, motion to investigate alleged corruption and inefficiency in Ajaokuta Company Ltd and National Iron Ore Mining Company, NIOMCO amongst other.
Senator Natasha has provided 5,000 digital learning devices to both public primary and secondary schools in Kogi Central.
For her magical achievements in office and accelerated development and impact her constituency has witnessed, Senator Natasha has received and even turned down several prestigious awards. She emerged Senator of the year 2024 which is her first year in office as Senator.
Achieving these feats in less than 16 months as a first time Senator and one from the minority party and from Kogi Central, one may wonder what could be the Achilles’ Heels of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan in the 10th Senate and why the persecution by supposed colleagues in the Chambers. Is there a question of loyalty to individual rather than institution? Is it her performance record or her dedication to the business of legislation rather than playing the cheap political cards around the leadership of the Senate? Is it her idea of universal development of Nigeria rather than regional? After all, every Senator is of the Federal Republic Nigeria and should think and act so.
We may ask further; is anyone being threatened by her uncommon pace? Is there a question of envy or jealousy among her colleagues? Do they expect Senator Natasha to be one step behind, considering the enormity of the task on her shoulders as Senator from an already underrepresented District in the past? Is there a fear that Senator Natasha may reveal to Nigerians what is due to them from their representatives across boards? We may have more to ask than provide answers.
Meanwhile, Senator Natasha is a more than equal to the task of addressing the challenges that come with standing out in an uncommon manner. She is not one to be taught the difference between ‘diplomacy and cold slavery’ or ‘breach of rules and violation of right’. Nobody can silence her or box her to a corner of the Senate. Beyond her voice and impact over the years as an ordinary citizen, the people have been her greatest strength and she can only get more strengthed by any attempt to silence her.
Nigerians know how rare it is to have a NATASHA among the current crop of leaders and they are obviously making sure she is protected against bully, intimidation or harassment in the Senate. The dream is of the people, by the people and for the people, and so the mandate too.
By Professor Mike Ozekhome, SAN, CON, OFR, LL.D.
I have carefully read and listened to former Nigerian military president, General Ibrahim
Badamosi Babagida’s public remorse and regrets over the atrocious annulment of the June
12,1993 presidential elections. He did this 32 whopping years later. I want to very quickly say
that it takes a man with strong guts and balls and a man who has become repentant, born
again and has seen the face of God to publicly recant his earlier wrongful deeds and offer
public apology to the entire nation. This was no doubt meant to heal gapinng wounds and
balm wounded and bruised hearts.
The polls, the best, most transparent and credible elections, ever held in Nigeria till date,
were meant to end decades of military d The annulment threw Nigeria into turmoil and
widespread unreast, protests, maimings and killings. This forced Babagida to “step aside”;
the enthronenent of the Enest Shonekan’s Interim Government; and the arrest and detention
of Chief Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner who later died in Aso Villa in questionable
and suspicious circumstances. Of course, General Sani Abacha who was his second in
command later sacked Shonekan in a bloodless coup. For years, IBB prevaricated on the
annulment, claiming he did it in the best national interest. But on Thursday the 21st of
February, 2025,Babangida during the presentation of his memoirs, “A journey In Service”,
pointedly regretted in the public: “I regret June 12. I accept full responsibility for the
decisions taken and June 12 happened under my watch. Mistakes, missteps happened
in quick succession. That accident of history is most regrettable. The nation is entitled
to expect my expression of regret “. And wait for it:: he acknowledged for the first time that
Abiola won the elections fair and square, trouncing his major opponent, Alhaji Bashir Tofa.
I want to salute Babagida for having the courage and humility to own up like a man; that
everything that happened during the June 12 crisis took place under him as the head of state
and the president who was also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. I salute him for acknowledging that his government which actually
organised unarguably the freest, fairest and most credible elections in the electoral history
of Nigeria when it introduced option A4 from electoral books that were hithenlrto unknown
to Nigeria or to the world. But unfortunately, regrettably like he now admits, he again turned
around to annul the same elections in a way that was most bizarre, curious and unnatural.
To me, that he has come out to open up to doing something wrong and egregious to a
bleeding nation should be appreciated. I believe that Nigerians should forgive him because
to err is human and to forgive is divine ( Eph 4:32 ). I personally have now forgiven him
because I was also a victim of the June12 crisis. It threw up all manners of challenges to me
as a person, where in my very youthful age; in my thirties, I found myself marching on the
streets of Lagos every day- from Ikeja bus stop roundabout, to Ikorodu road; up to Tejuosho
market; from there to Ojuelegba, Surulere; to Mushin; to Shomolu and Igando, Alimosho.
Everyday, we were on the streets, protesting the mindless annulment. Some of us were killed
in process; some were lucky enough to escape abroad on self exile. But some of us- very few
indeed- refused to flee our dear country; we stayed back. We stared at the military eyeball to
eyeball. We challenge authority and spoke truth to power. We challenged impunity and
repression. I suffered several detentions across different detention centres. I virtually could
not find means of livelihood for my youthful family because I was profiled, my phones bugged
and no briefs were coming in. But I personally forgive him because it takes tons of guts to
make public confession of having erred and atone for same as he has now done.
It is confession that leads to penance and penance leads to restitution and then forgiveness.
If Babagida were to die today, I believe that he will see the face of God because he has prayed
God to forgive him; and he has prayed Nigerians to forgive him. Beyond that historic and
epochal mistake of the annulment of the June 12 election which constitutes his original sin,
let me place it on record that Babagida is one of the greatest presidents that Nigeria ever had
in terms of his ingenuity, rulership mantra; ideas for national resurgimento; ideas that
contributed greatly to nation-building. These were aside the IMF-induced loans and pills
which he introduced and which we again valiantly fought against successfully.
Babagida it was who gave birth to the Federal Capital Territory and laid the solid foundation for virtually everything you see there today. His government was peopled by intellectuals and
not by half illiterates and quacks. He recognized and used intellects. He was luminous and he built bridges of understanding, friendship and brotherhood across Nigeria. Nigerians,
please, accept IBB’s confession and forgive him his sin of annuling the June 12,1993
elections. Let the wounds heal; let the heart melt; and let the spirit of national triumphalism
prevail.
Festivals world over are the most popular forms of celebrations in human existence. Whether as religious, culture, sports, film, arts and other traditional practices, festivals are pivotal events that could involve millions of people in the case of the religion related across the globe annually or periodically. They are events that bring people together and are characterized with merriments, ceremonies, and a lot of other forms of fun and bonding.
Nigeria as a multi ethnic and diverse society with over 250 ethnic groups is enriched with various forms of festivals observed annually with those of religions most prominent with the celebrations by Muslims and Christians. Similarly, the traditional worshippers retain their own forms of festivals all depending on the tribes and the culture involved. Several among the religious and cultural festivals in Nigeria include Christmas the celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Easter that heralds lent and the resurrection of Jesus after death while Islam has Eid-el Kabir and Eid El-fitri which is breaking of Ramadan fasting. At the level of culture and tradition there other festivals that comes to mind that includes Argungu fishing festival in Kebbi state, the new yam festival predominantly among the Ibo speaking tribes, Durbar festival, Calabar Carnival, Osun festival, Ojude Oba festival, Igue festival among the Benin people of Edo state, Oro festival, Osun festival, Sango festival, Egungun festival all among the Yoruba people, New Yam festival, Eyo festival popular among the people of Lagos Island in Lagos state and so on.
Durbar Festival
The word Durbar is traced to Persian and is connected with the ceremony marking the installation of Queen Victoria as the Express of Colonial India in 1877 while the word have been pronounced and propounded as “darbar” with dar meaning door and bar meaning entry or audience in Hindi-Urdu. In Nigeria, Durbar is a treasured cultural horse riding and display festival majorly among the Hausa people of the northern Nigeria to mark the Islamic holidays of Eid-el- Fitri [end of Ramadan} and Eid-el-Adha [the feast of the lamb]. The over 400 years old practice is said to have been introduced by Sarki Muhammadu Rumfa of Kano in the late 14th century as military parade and display when horses were used in battles to defend and protect the Emirate and also the opportunity to pay homage and demonstrate loyalty to the emir. It is also part of demonstration to showcase the readiness of the palace troops for battles and to also celebrate important political events. Available information has it that the first major Durbar in the country took place on the 1st of January, 1900 as part of the celebration to mark the transition of the Royal Niger Company to an imperial Protectorate.
Also known as horse ride festival it is worthy of note that horses and to some extent camels played prominent roles in the growth and developments of the today prominent Nigeria cities like Kano, Katsina, Zaria, Sokoto and Bida. In the 14th century before the sojourn of Christopher Columbus, aside being used during conquest and in battlefields under the command of the Madawaki who leads cavalry of horsemen with their horses loaded with various weapons, horses were used mostly for commercial activities particularly the trans Sahara trade expansion with items like salt, gold and farm produces.
Ceremonies
The activities and ceremonies involves “Hawan sallah” in Hausa language {meaning Mount of Eid} which in essence connotes the mounting of horse during the Eid or sallah celebration. The ceremonies begin with prayers at Eid grounds followed with parade of the Emir and his entourage on horses followed with drummers and trumpeters with the movement ending at the Emir’s palace. The parade includes hundreds of beautifully decorated horses with nobles in their best clothes followed by musicians and magicians all in a long procession in distinctive turbans {Rawani} clearly indicating their nobility and social status through streets to pay homage to the Emir. Other special attractions particularly in Kano Durbar which is acclaimed to possess the biggest parade of colouful horses in the world, include the display by the “hyena man” who carries out street performance with trained animals like hyenas and baboons which create a lot of excitements and entertainment for the hundreds of crowd in attendance.
The procession of the strictly male event showcases participants dressed in flamboyant turbans and robes with modes indicating their royal linage. Kano Durbar for example is four day event that commences with Hawan sallah on the day of Eid followed by the day 2 and most popular for its entertainment and glamour Hawan Daushe for the special visitation of the Emir and his colourful entourage to his mother in her domain. The display of various entertainers including magicians, drummers, dancers, stunt men and masquerades attract and witness the attendance and spectators across the globe. The other two days are for Hawan Nassarawa and finally Hawan Doriya which are both continuous aspects for merriment during the festival.
The Emir’s return from his mother’s visitation on the day 2 {Hawan Daushe} is followed by The Jahi that sees the him and his entourage ride through various important historical quarters and families before returning to the palace. On arrival the Emir in a military manner takes position to receive salutes and traditional greetings from the cavalry of riders along with the various district heads, their families and entourage in order of hierarchy. This is followed by the demonstration of loyalty and gallantry by all the riders and spectators present. After the homage and performances, [The Jahi] the palace guards take positions and fire several gunshots to signal the closure and end of the day and most important aspect of the four day festival.
Durbar festival has become annual festival celebrated across cities Northern Muslim dominated cities of Nigeria like Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Zaria and Bida and was extended to Ilorin in Kwara state during Eid el-fitri and Eid El-Adha. Generally speaking, the Durbar festival is not just the most population cultural heritage of the Hausa people of the northern Nigeria and major parts of Niger republic but it is festival that unite and bring the people together to celebrate their unique historical and cultural heritage.
Durbar festival recently has witnessed more activities like car racing and other fun fairs that attract sons and daughters of Hausa decent, visitors and tourist annually to places like Kano, Katsina and Zaria. The glamour, popularity and attractions of Durbar particularly the Kano Durbar festival over the years, led to the recognition of the festival as one of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO in in December 17, 2024. This laudable and significant achievement in the nation’s cultural heritage exemplified the extent to which the festival has become popular to the people and the role it places towards unifying the people through their rich cultural heritage. During the presentation of the UNESCO certificate, by the Permanent Delegation of Nigeria to UNESCO to the Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy Barr. Hannatu Musawa, opined that the great achievement does “not only celebrates the beauty and unity of the festival but also creates opportunities for the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage. The country’s representative at the UNESCO in addition stated that “Having the Kano Durbar on the UNESCO list is a huge milestone for Nigeria” while the Minister in her view remarked that “the recognitions bring both international prestige and tangible benefits to the local economy”.
In comparison, while Ujude Oba yet another similar festival of the Ijebu people of Ogun state in Western Nigeria, entails the participation of both male and female across various age groups as part of the big sallah [Eid-edha] celebration of the Muslim faithful. While both festivals identify or are associated with royalty, palace events and horse riding, durbar is strictly a male show and more of an horse riding festival while the practice is just an aspect of horse riding is just an aspect of Ojude Oba festival.
It is hope that the recent drive by the present administration leverages on the recent recognition of Durbar by the UNESCO to create more awareness through wider media coverage with a view of boosting general interest and tourist attractions which shall cascade or stimulate growth of the sector and also serve as source revenue to the governments across all levels.
Abdulkareem A. Ikharo.
Curator [NCMM].
Abuja.
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