Olatunbosun urges Ori Africa to prioritise Nigerian schools in cultural promotion …advocates inter-school cultural competitions to preserve African heritage; Olaleye seeks economic value in indigenous knowledge

Oyo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mr Wasiu Olatunbosun, has urged the founder of Ori Africa, Chief Pekun Olaleye, to prioritise Nigerian schools and local communities in promoting African culture, saying early exposure to indigenous traditions would help preserve the continent’s cultural heritage.

Olatunbosun made the call at the second edition of Ori Africa Hangout in Ibadan, where he advocated regular inter-school cultural competitions to encourage young people to learn and appreciate their cultural values.

He said cultural education should begin from childhood, stressing that schoolchildren were more receptive to learning and preserving indigenous traditions than adults.

“What I am upholding right now is that we should use culture and traditions. We should gradually introduce it to those children right from the beginning,” the commissioner said.

He advised Ori Africa to establish a strong presence in Nigeria before expanding its activities to other African countries, including Ghana, where the organisation plans to take its cultural conversations.

Olatunbosun said the initiative could achieve greater impact by organising more cultural programmes locally and engaging educational institutions in the process.

He proposed inter-school cultural competitions as a means of encouraging students to learn traditional dances and other indigenous practices, adding that such activities would make cultural education more engaging.

The commissioner also urged the organisers to ensure that Ori Africa remained sustainable beyond the tenure of its present leadership.

He commended the initiative, drawing from his experience in organising the World Egungun Festival, which he said had been sustained without government funding.

Olatunbosun encouraged the team to document its activities and use available recordings to promote the initiative to wider audiences.

He, however, stressed the importance of building a solid foundation at home before seeking international expansion.

“I feel that you should first establish a firm footing at home before going outside,” he said.

In his opening remarks, Olaleye said Ori Africa was established to reconnect Africans with the value of their history, culture, indigenous knowledge and natural resources, while exploring opportunities for development and enterprise.

He challenged the perception of Africa as a poor continent, declaring that “Africa has never been poor”.

According to him, Africa’s abundant natural resources and rich cultural heritage have not been fully translated into economic prosperity.

He cited the ingenuity of African ancestors in metalwork, agriculture and technology, saying their achievements demonstrated the continent’s long-standing capacity for innovation.

“Our ancestors were not merely consumers of the world around them. They were innovators, technologists, producers and problem solvers,” he said.

Olaleye explained that Ori Africa intended to build platforms for cultural conversations across the continent’s 54 countries, focusing on the value of indigenous knowledge systems and their potential contribution to development.

He said the Ibadan gathering, which focused on African traditional dressing from the Yoruba perspective of modesty, was part of a broader effort to examine the continent’s cultural heritage.

He added that future engagements could explore traditional medicine, architecture, food, art, music, technology and indigenous industries in different African countries.

“For us, the conversation is only the beginning. Our responsibility is to emphasise the value of these subjects, advocate for them, document them, gather useful data around them and, importantly, identify the possibilities for enterprise,” he said.

Olaleye, who said he had spent almost three decades in business, stressed the need to connect cultural ideas with practical economic opportunities.

“We don’t want Ori Africa’s conversations to end when the microphone is switched off. We want the conversation to become knowledge, opportunities, enterprise and invariably contribute to Africa’s development,” he said.

Also speaking, a lecturer at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Dr Oladapo Ajayi, called for greater investment in indigenous knowledge and the development of local industries.

Ajayi said African countries needed to move beyond discussions about cultural preservation and develop practical policies that would enable local knowledge and resources to generate economic value.

He noted that foreign manufacturers had studied African patterns and incorporated them into their products, while local industries continued to face challenges in developing their own capacity.

According to him, knowledge production, research and appropriate educational curricula are essential to transforming Africa’s cultural resources into sustainable businesses.

He questioned why African students often travelled abroad to study fashion when local universities could develop programmes that reflected the continent’s cultural heritage and economic needs.

“Which university today, which of our curriculum is also coming up with this kind of curriculum that will address African needs?” he asked.

Ajayi said the fashion and textile industries could create employment opportunities for young people if governments, universities and entrepreneurs worked together to strengthen local production.

He cited the challenges facing traditional Adire production, including dependence on imported chemicals and the insufficient cultivation of indigenous materials, as examples of the need to develop local supply chains.

The university don also urged government to take greater responsibility for promoting indigenous industries, rather than placing the burden solely on musicians, actors and other creative professionals.

He said cultural industries should be treated as a national development priority, particularly in view of the need to create jobs for Nigeria’s growing population.

“We have a crisis at hand. It is not only the matter of time, that is job, real job industry, that is being taken away quietly from us,” he said.

Ajayi called on academics and other stakeholders to use their knowledge and influence to advocate policies that would support local industries and protect the country’s collective economic interests.

Another lecturer at the Institute of African Studies, Mr Akeem Ashiyanbi, described traditional dressing as a form of visual communication that reflects identity, social status, cultural values and personal character.

Ashiyanbi said African traditional attire should not be viewed merely as clothing, but as a means of communicating cultural identity and heritage.

He explained that traditional dressing had evolved over time, with colonialism and the association of Western clothing with education and administrative positions contributing to the decline in its everyday use.

He, however, said African fashion remained dynamic and could adapt to modern influences without losing its cultural significance.

“Dressing itself is a form of visual language that communicates and talks to us,” he said.

A textile entrepreneur, Mrs Aderinsola Ogunleye of April Fabrics, said demand for African fabrics had continued to cut across different categories of consumers, including those who wore them to work and those who purchased them for social events.

Ogunleye said some customers preferred traditional designs, while others embraced modern adaptations of African fabrics.

She warned against the growing imitation of indigenous textile designs by foreign manufacturers, particularly the production of fabrics that resemble traditional Adire.

According to her, authentic Adire production requires considerable time and effort, making it more expensive than mass-produced imitations.

She urged Nigerians to appreciate the value of locally produced fabrics and support indigenous textile practitioners.

The event featured discussions on African traditional dressing, modesty, cultural identity, indigenous textile production and the economic opportunities within Africa’s cultural industries.