INTERVIEW: We’ve gazetted traditional prayer for official functions, says Oyo commissioner

Wasiu Ajani Olatubosun is the commissioner for culture and tourism in Oyo state. In this interview with TheCable’s YEKEEN AKINWALE, he said efforts are in place to make the state the culture-tourism hub of the south-west. Olatubosun said the state government is creating an environment to attract investors and make the suspended Lake Iyake at Ado-Awaye in Iseyin LGA a popular tourist attraction.

TheCable: Since you were appointed the commissioner, you have been promoting culture and tourism in Oyo state. What informed your drive?

Olatubosun: What matters to me is that anywhere I find myself or am posted to oversee, I always like to carve a niche for myself and leave a landmark legacy there. This ministry was reintroduced during the second term of Governor Seyi Makinde. It first came into existence in 2011, when Abiola Ajimobi, the late governor, came. After four years, Ajimobi scrapped the ministry for non-performance and non-visibility. 

So, when I came, I felt the best thing was to reposition and create lasting structures and institutions. I came up with a cultural architecture that anybody who comes after me can take on. To God be the glory, I have the ears and support of all the culture tourism stakeholders in the state and Nigeria. I believe that it depends on the person at the helm of affairs. I came up with different ideas that have been helping the ministry and the state. 

For instance, the issue of the Sango festival. They have been doing it. This year makes it the 10th year. But out of those years, we participated in four or five. 

When I was the commissioner for information, the late Alaafin Oba Lamidi Adeyemi called me and said, “Wasiu, I’m giving you this Sango, and my dream is to have it enlisted by UNESCO. Pursue it for me, whether we are alive or not. I want UNESCO to recognise this festival and enlist it.”

Since then, I have been working towards it even when I was the commissioner for information. Now, to help the situation, the ministry was created in 2023 after the election under the roadmap for sustainable development, which had free education, help, security, and expansion of the economy through agribusiness, and infrastructure.

For the second term, his excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, came up with a document that is the roadmap for sustainable development. While we sustained the four that we started with during the first term, we included two – the expansion of the economy through solid minerals and tourism. That informed the decision to create the ministry of culture and tourism.

So, for all the tourism potential sites that we have in Oyo state that have hitherto been neglected, I decided to first of all start by giving them publicity and calling people to those sites. As of today, we are happy to say that many people are coming to Oyo state for tourism.

TheCable: Many people believe that Oyo state is not tapping into the tourism potential of the suspended lake at Ado-Awaye, which is similar to the one in Colorado in the US. What is your ministry doing to make the Iyake Lake popular?

Olatubosun: Yes, you are right. But what we have at Ado-Awaye under the Iseyin Local Government is a natural suspended lake, while the one in the state of Colorado is artificial. So, we have only one natural suspended lake in the whole world, and that’s what we have at Ado-Awaye – the Iyake suspended lake.

But unfortunately, successive governments did not do much for people to know. When I came, I started creating narratives around it, and people are coming from all over the world. The stage we are now in is calling investors to come, and our belief in this administration is that there is no reason why the government should be in business. 

The government should be there to provide a conducive environment for businesses to thrive while investors bring their investments. We are inviting them, and since they realise that we have created a conducive environment, people are already coming to Oyo state. However, we have not seen a serious investor for the Iyake Lake. Some have come, but we have not seen a serious commitment from them, ditto for cultural centres and other tourist sites that we have in Oyo state.

Other aspects of tourism, such as the hospitality business, are thriving well. Recently, it’s been difficult for people to get hotel accommodation in major top hotels in Ibadan from Monday to Sunday. People from neighbouring states – Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Osun – do come to Oyo state to enjoy their weekend.

TheCable: In terms of naira and kobo, are we able to put a figure on the revenue that culture and tourism can generate for Oyo state annually?

Olatubosun: We can’t do that now. Presently, we are at the stage of bringing people to come and invest. We call it: come, see, enjoy, and invest in Oyo state. We have been seeing the results in the areas of having hotels. Almost every day, investors are coming to invest in hospitality businesses, be it hotels, eateries, or event centres. Once we have that, it would be very easy for big investors to put money into our tourist sites because they are assured that tourists that would be coming from all over the world would have good hotels for accommodation.

TheCable: Recently, you organised the World Egungun Festival in Ibadan, the state capital. What informed such a festival given the fact that such celebrations have always been characterised by violence? 

Olatubosun: I decided to come up with that because when we were young, we used to follow egungun and egungun performs two roles. One is entertainment, and the other is the spiritual role. Nowadays, egungun adheres strictly to the spiritual aspect of it, but they are losing a lot of followership because the essence of promoting entertainment has been eroded through thuggery, arson, and what have you. 

The followers used to whip one another with canes or lashes when egungun performed; but when it got to the late 80s, politicians used egungun festivals to terrorise their opponents, and they introduced guns and cutlasses.

By the 90s and to the present time, even those who were born in the late 80s, the majority of them did not have the opportunity to know how egungun entertainment should be. We decided to repackage the festival and use that entertainment part of it to bring all the egunguns to a confined environment. 

We used Lekan Salami Stadium and brought all the egungun in all 33 local governments to come and perform. We have spectacular egunguns and celebrity egunguns (egungun alare) with famous costumes, while the others are spectacular with all sorts of traditional things. 

They came, performed, and entertained the people. On that day, we started around 11 a.m. and couldn’t finish until around 6 p.m. We even called it an egungun, fuji, and amala carnival. We wanted to honour the creator of fuji music, the late Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. But we couldn’t do it. Next year, we are going to do a pure egungun festival. We won’t combine them, and we would declare the official food for the event to be amala and abula. 

The turnout was massive; different associations that we invited in Ibadan came. For next year’s edition, we will reach out to different groups and associations so that they can come in traditional attires to showcase their clubs or associations.

TheCable: Are you extending the invitation to egunguns in other states?

Olatubosun: Yes, it will attract egunguns from all the Yoruba-speaking areas, states, and nations such as Togo, Benin Republic, Cameroon, Ghana, and Abidjan. Brazil and Cuba have also signified their intention that after two or three festivals, they would like to bring their troupes too. It’s going to be a very big event, and people will come from all over the world to celebrate and enjoy themselves. 

TheCable: The state government recently incorporated Isese prayer in addition to the Muslim and Christian prayers at official functions. You made this happen. How do you intend to sustain this?

Olatubosun: It has been gazetted. Any government that comes now cannot change it, and every August 20 has been declared as Isese Day. It is also gazetted that for every state function, the three religions would be given space for their prayers. 

TheCable: As a commissioner, what would you like to be remembered for when you leave office?

Olatubosun: I want to be remembered as someone who succeeded in establishing a long-lasting culture-tourism architecture that generations yet unborn will be proud of. Everybody will see Oyo as the pacesetter state. We want that to also reflect in culture-tourism so that people will come to Oyo state to celebrate our culture and tourism.

By December, if we eventually get sponsorship, we want to have an Omi tuntun culture carnival like the Calabar carnival. If we are able to do it successfully, we will transform it into the Ibadan Carnival, where all 33 local governments will showcase their rich culture. 

The convergence place would be the Mapo Hall, and we would have a route to Liberty Stadium, where we will all celebrate. Our ultimate goal is to turn Oyo state into the cultural-tourism hub of the south-west.