African drums festival: Ogun to introduce endurance trek, others

As the third edition of the African Drums Festival scheduled to hold between 19 and 20 of April 2018, draws closer, the Ogun State government has disclosed that it would introduce an endurance trek, road show and other side attractions to the festival.

The state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Basorun Muyiwa Oladipo who disclosed this in his office, while fielding questions from journalists, said the festival, the third in the series, was already looking like an event in its 10th year, ascribing the achievement to the state government’s resolve at making the festival the best among equals.

“We’ve been having improvement yearly, the festival is just three years old and is already like it is 10 years old. This year, we are going to have a road show and build up activities to the main event. We intend to have pre- shows in the two other Senatorial Districts. We will bring in Angelique Kidjo to Ijebu Ode and another Yoruba music star at Ilaro, we are also going to have a road show on the day of the opening ceremony which is on April 19, 2018.

ALSO READ: Tension in Osun as Aregbesola inaugurates N1.6bn road project

‘‘We plan to have an endurance trek from the Cultural Centre to Olumo Rock, you know, we have very good road networks today, Olumo Rock is the centre of attraction for tourists, and of course, we need to showcase our state to the outside world,” the commissioner submitted.

He disclosed that about 24 African countries would take part in the festival, adding that, the Moroccan National Television, would be on ground to cover the event and showcase it to the rest of the world.

“Morocco has keyed into our vision, Moroccan National Television will be coming to cover the event and at least showcase it to the rest of the world, we are going to have representatives from more African countries, we had about  12 countries at the last edition, we are expecting about 24 African countries.  We intend making a mark, an improvement on what we’ve had in the last two editions,” he said.

Oladipo expressed the determination of the state government to nurture the festival to maturity, so that subsequent governments would also preserve the legacies of the festival, thereby making it a flagship for cultural activities in the State and the country at large.