... AS THIS YEAR'S EDITION IS SET TO BE THE BEST EVER
All road leads to Onitsha next week friday as the 25th edition of Ofala Festival takes place in pomp and pageantry.
The ancient commercial city is set to come alive as the revered Ofala Festival of the Obi of Onitsha returns with great fanfare on the 16th and 17th of this month. This year's edition is already being posited as the best ever, as the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) storms the festival in grand style.
For those who know, Ofala is not just a festival. It is royalty. It is culture. It is commerce. It is history sitting on a throne.
Every year, His Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, CFR, MNI, Obi of Onitsha, Agbogidi, comes out in full regalia to bless his people, to celebrate his kingship, and to receive homage. Drummers drum, masquerades dance, chiefs in red caps pay homage, and the world watches. It is the biggest cultural calendar in South East Nigeria: where tradition meets power, and where business meets culture.
But this year is already positioned to be different.
This year, NACCIMA is not just coming to watch. NACCIMA is coming with all its weight of trade contacts and network, to connect.
Led by its National President, Engineer Jani Ibrahim, the leadership of NACCIMA, representing over 100 chambers of commerce, thousands of businesses and millions of entrepreneurs across Nigeria, will storm Onitsha to be part of Ofala Festival, to pay homage to the Obi, and to use culture as a platform to drive commerce, tourism, investment and national unity.
According to the Chairman of the Creative Economy And Tourism arm of NACCIMA, Otunba Dr. Chief Olawanle Akinboboye, who is the Founder and Convener of the East-West Africa Amalgamation Forum, NACCIMA's presence at Ofalla Festival this year is going to be significant because:
"Onitsha is the biggest market in West Africa. From Main Market to Bridge Head, Onitsha moves Nigeria's economy. NACCIMA knows that culture drives commerce. When you celebrate Ofala, you celebrate enterprise. Every red cap chief is a businessman. Every market woman is a cultural ambassador. This year, NACCIMA will sit with the Obi and his council, with captains of industry, with diaspora investors returning home for Ofalla, to say, our culture is our economy," said Otunba Dr. Chief Olawanle Akinboboye.
Sources from the Palace say this edition will be the most colourful in recent history. More masquerades, more international guests, more traditional rulers from across Nigeria, more display of Igbo heritage, more fashion, more music, more glamour. The Obi of Onitsha, known for elegance and intellect, is set to make a majestic appearance that will, as usual, stop the internet.
With NACCIMA's presence, Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye says that, "the festival will definitely move from just cultural to economic exhibitions to back to back meetings, tourism showcases and investment conversations that will run alongside the royal celebration.
"NACCIMA is not coming with just entourage. NACCIMA is coming with the message that: Nigeria's future is in its culture and its commerce. That we must promote our festivals as tourism products that create jobs for hotels, for transporters, for photographers, for fashion designers, for food vendors, for musicians. Ofala is not just for Anambra, it is for Nigeria, and it is for export.
"Next week, when the drums roll in Ime Obi Onitsha, when the Obi appears under the royal umbrella, when chiefs dance and cannons boom, be sure that NACCIMA will be there in full force, standing with royalty to say culture is business and business is culture. If you have never witnessed Ofalla, this is the year. If you have witnessed Ofalla before, you have not witnessed this one. Onitsha is ready. And so is NACCIMA! Otunba Olawanle Akinboboye added.
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