The Drum Festival, a cultural initiative of Ogun State, formerly celebrated annually but abandoned since the advent of Governor Dapo Abiodun’s government will soon be reintroduced, but now repackaged to make it more colourful and spectacular.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner in the state Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Sesan Fagbayi while featuring on a personality programme on radio in Abeokuta.
Fagbayi explained that the present administration through the ministry is working towards organising Ogun State Carnival that would encompass drums, traditional attires, costumes, dances, and many more.
According to the commissioner, the repackaged state carnival would feature all the 20 Local Governments in the state coming together to showcase their respective areas of specialisation in terms of culture, traditions , fashion, cuisine among other cultural heritages peculiar to their locality.
Speaking further, Fagbayi also revealed that the present administration had begun to enlist some of the cultural festivals in the state with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
He noted that some of the state cultural jamborees that merited this recognition included the Ojude Oba Festival in Ijebu Ode and the Bilikisu Sugbo Tourist site.
The commissioner also revealed that in a bid to project the rich tradition and cultural potential of the state to the world, the state Ministry of Culture and Tourism is set to launch an Online Platform in order to create tourists’ awareness.
He said the development would enable the state to attract more investors, private partnership and tourists to the state thereby increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Fagbayi said: “Online Platform for Culture and Tourism Matters (OPLACT) is a platform that would avail tourists from all over the world to log into the app to access all tourist’s sites across the state before visiting those sites, as well as Hotels they desire to lodge into when they come for tourist adventures and other information they require to know about the Ministry and its activities”.
