The Oyo state government says it has approved 13.579 hectares of land for the establishment of Aso-Ofi international tourism market in Iseyin area of the state.
At a press briefing in Ibadan on Thursday, Toye Arulogun, commissioner for information, said the foundation of the market would be laid during the 2017 Aso Ofi festival, which will hold on Saturday.
Arulogun said the market will contain 500 weaving sheds/workshops, 500 exhibition shops, a warehouse, first indigenous textile museum in Nigeria, a fire station, a clinic and a police station.
He said the state was determined to fully reap maximally from the economic potentials of Aso-Ofi.
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Arulogun said the festival was conceptualised to showcase and celebrate our locally made fabric that is now an internationally accepted brand, saying “the celebration opened our eyes wider to the potentials that abound which include trade and commercial activities, employment and job creation. Financial institutions have also been having serious and genuine engagements with the weavers and marketers while export opportunities are also being exploited”.
“The celebration opened our eyes wider to the potentials that abound which include trade and commercial activities, employment and job creation,” he said.
“Financial institutions have also been having serious and genuine engagements with the weavers and marketers while export opportunities are also being exploited.”
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He said the festival is expected to attract Iseyin sons and daughters at home and in the diaspora, as well as national and international tourists and traders.
He said the highlights of the two-day event include a rally/carnival round the city of Iseyin, Aso-Ofi arts and crafts exhibition, Aso-Ofi weaving competition, colloquium, musical concerts, parade by the four zones of the Iseyin weavers and marketers association and other stakeholders, cultural performance, awards presentation and a fashion show.
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