Edo indigenes diapora for NAFEST, pray for Oba of Benin

TWO months to the flag-off of Nigeria’s unity festival, National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST), slated for Benin City, Edo State, logistics and promotion activities are currently ongoing among Edo indigenes living abroad.

The preparations are becoming more exciting with signals received from daily calls, electronic mails and video calls, Edo indigenes in the diaspora reaching the Abuja office of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), asking for updates, travel tips, hotel accommodation and other logistics in place to ensure a hitch-free festival. Already many of the Edo indigenes in the diaspora have promised to attend the foremost national festival with their families and friends.

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An inquiry letter from an enthusiastic Edo citizen living abroad sighted by this correspondent noted that the festival must hold as it will help project the over four hundred-year history and culture of Edo and also to appreciate the Oba of Benin who has used his diplomatic experience and contacts to highlight the need for the restoration and repatriation of Edo artifacts fretted away by European invaders during the slave trade era.

Otunba Segun Runsewe, director general, NCAC disclosed that from the interest so far shown by Governor Godwin Obaseki, the Oba of Benin and the people of Edo State, both at home and abroad are clear indications that the preparation for the festival be taken more seriously than ever before. “We are under pressure, a positive sign that NAFEST Edo 2019, billed for October must be given total attention. The response is encouraging and NCAC is ever ready to deliver and make Nigeria the destination for culture and tourism festivals in the world,” Runsewe stressed.