Sango Festival: Oyo Govt emphasises Preservation Of African Culture

Oyo State government has stressed the need to preserve African cultural heritage, saying the works of those who devoted their lives to African culture must be remembered and celebrated, not archived and forgotten.

The state’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr Wasiu Olatunbosun, stated this on Wednesday at the third edition of the World Sango Festival and Duro Ladipo Memorial Symposium held at the Cultural Centre, Ibadan.

Olatunbosun said the symposium was deliberately sustained to keep alive the contributions of cultural custodians who laid the foundation on which the Yoruba people stand today.

He urged the state government to take the next step by converting the residence of the late cultural icon, Chief Duro Ladipo, where the first two editions of the symposium were held, into a monument or museum.

In a move to institutionalise cultural identity, the commissioner announced that both audio and video versions of the state’s new cultural anthem are now ready.

He said the anthem will be played at all cultural and Isese-related programmes in the state.

Also speaking, the President of the International Council of Ifa Religion, Dr Fayemi Ifakayode, clarified that Sango Ayilegbe-orun, whom he described as one of the messengers of Olodumare, should not be confused with the third ALaafin of Oyo, who was also called Sango.

In his remarks, Yoruba culture and arts advocate, Prince Tunde Odunlade, charged people to trace and hold on to what was handed down by their ancestors.

“Abandoning our ancestral heritage erases the very stories that define the Yoruba,” he said. Traditionalists, cultural stakeholders, and art practitioners attended the event.