Abuja, May 23, 2023 (NAN) Sen. Rochas Okorocha, Chairman, Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, has called on Nigerians and Africans to give more attention to culture to prevent it from extinction.
Okorocha made the call on Tuesday in Abuja to commemorate UNESCO’s World Day for Cultural Diversity and Development.
The programme was organised by the African International Documentary Festival Foundation (AFIDFF)
Okorocha said that the continuous preservation of our cultural heritage by promoting its diversity would also save it from going into extinction.
He said that culture could also be used to promote peaceful coexistence among the people.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was organised in collaboration with the National Troupe of Nigeria (NTN).
He said that the organisers had decided to use the 2023 World Culture Day to celebrate the works of late Nigerian potter, Dr Ladi Kwali.
According to him, Ladi Kwali was a woman best described as a mother of culture.
» Today, she’s being celebrated not because of a primitive accumulation of wealth but because of the way she carried her peculiar feminist spirit which stood at the side of honour.
» In the next dispensation, we shall dedicate one of the administration`s blocks of Rochas Foundation Schools to Kwali to immortalise her great name and encourage cultural heritage, » Okorocha said.
Okorocha said that culture was everything to a society as it was the means the whole world knows about a particular society.
Mrs Malame Manghza, Director General, AFIDFF, in her address said that the event was organised to join the rest of the International Community to mark the 2023 World Culture and Diversity Day.
She said the event was organised to showcase and promote indigenous cultures within the FCT and Nigeria at large.
» The theme for the 2023 celebration is: World culture and sustainable development to achieve prosperity, sustainable development and peaceful co-existence is very significant.
» This is because it comes at a time when the country has serious challenges ranging from terrorism, global phenomena and upheavals in many communities today.
“This year, we chose to celebrate and recognise Nigeria’s artistic and cultural heritage with global recognition to Kwali.
» This is because she has made great contributions in the preservation and utilisation of her God-given talent in pottery to raise livelihoods in communities, » she said.
Manghza said that Kwali’s hand work had gone beyond the shores of Nigeria and helped to raise our cultural profile worldwide.
» We remember her today and will continue to do so until the female folk realises that they are potential movers and shakers of the global creative industry, » she said.
Manghza added that Nigerians must engage in promoting creative and cultural industries as a means of projecting diversity, and address the repercussions of cultural heritage loss in communities.
Also speaking, Mr Ahmed Mohammed, Director-General, NTN said that the event tends to educate young school children to know their culture and understand its importance towards community development.
He called on both local and international communities to consciously increase cultural cohesion among various diverse community settings, in order to achieve global peaceful co-existence and development.
NAN reports that the event had in display various collections from the works of Dr Ladi Kwali as presented by her family members.
Other works on display were pottery and crafts from Mairo Foundation, Gabajuda Gallery, Minna, Korea cultural centre and also had school children who visited to watch the exhibition.
NAN reports that the World Cultural Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is celebrated globally annually on May 21.