Babatunde Mesewaku, the President of AREFO and organiser of
the festival, made the appeal on Sunday at the 2021 edition of the Badagry
Diaspora Festival in Badagry.
Newsmen report that the festival was held at the Palace of
Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu Toyi 1.
Mr Mesewaku said the festival was organised to show the
world that Badagry was blessed with a different culture, heritage, and history.
“Culture and festival are products of tourism, if one wants
to develop tourism especially in Lagos State, cultural tourism is the key and
this is what we are doing in Badagry.
“We are doing this at the local level in order for the
federal and Lagos State governments to see the potential and tap into it.
“Badagry people contribute money for the celebration of the
festival yearly because of the importance they attach to the preservation of
cultural heritage compare to other places,” he said.
Mr Mesewaku, the former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Tourism, Arts and Culture, said the festival started as a community programme
named Ogu Festival and changed to Badagry cultural festival.
“The festival came into existence as the awareness of our
cultural and historical significance to the global world. We realised that in
the past during the slave trade, various global communities like Dutch,
English, Brazilian, French, and Portuguese were all in Badagry involved in the
slave trade business.
“They were in close commercial collaboration with Badagry
people especially the quarters in the town. So, we realised that it is important
for us to explore the historical significance of this to Badagry and the world.
“Badagry, being an ancient port, a market for sales and
transportation of slave, we decided to explore the importance of this legacy
and make good out of it,” he said.
He said that the festival is an avenue for Africans in the
Diaspora to come and experience their culture, tradition and then reconstruct
their history and identity.
According to him, the festival has shown that Badagry is a
port of culture significant for Nigeria and for the Diaspora too.
“We have over eight quarters here in Badagry with different
cultural outfits, so if the Diaspora people come to us they will see varieties
of the cultural heritage of Badagry,” he said
In his remarks, the Akran of Badagry, Aholu Menu Toyi 1,
urged the people to ensure the festival becomes a global festival.
He urged residents to support the organisers of the festival
in order to keep the 20-year-old festival alive.
The Akran commended the Arewas, Ndigbo, and other tribes who
came to celebrate the festival with them.
The festival began its humble beginnings in 1999, as a
remembrance of the slave trade era and the significance of the town in the era.
In 1999, AREFO organized the first Badagry Festival. Throughout the years,
AREFO has spent hundreds of hours organizing the festival and has been
instrumental in evolving it into the festival that we know today.
NAN reports that the festival featured Badagry royal carnival,
Zangbeto carnival, Ogun Badagry dance, and Obatala and Aje festival.