Oyo to spend N200m on Festival
By Oladele Ogunsola Correspondent, Ibadan

Oyo State Government is to spend N200 million on its maiden "Oyo Festival/Carnival" scheduled to hold in parts of the state later this month.



http://odili.net/news/source/2009/may/7/700.html

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The event, which will attract about two million people, is aimed at rebuilding and reawakening tourist points in the state and make them investment friendly.

This was disclosed in Ibadan by Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Risikat Oyebimpe Alabi, while briefing the press on activities lined up for the carnival.

She disclosed that the one-week non-stop event would be laced with competitions, youth initiatives and trade opportunities that would ultimately expose the performance and efforts of the government to positive developments in the state as well as establish a new link of businesses by helping local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) find funding and take off programmes.

According to her, "the Festival/Carnival was part of government's initiatives to develop the tourism potentialities in the state with a view to checkmating the biting effects of the economic meltdown on its resources."

She said the event depicts the trade and culture fair whereby each local government will have a stand to exhibit all the goodies from its locality, stressing that it is a large exhibition, trade fair and campaign of each culture and people that make up Oyo State.

On the derivable from the carnival, Alabi said, "The exhibition and campaign will allow people to understand the people, appreciate their culture and buy souvenirs for keep. Business interest in these areas too can have stands to sell their products to the public."

Described as fun-packed event, the commissioner disclosed that the Festival/Carnival would feature a motorcade comprising the cultural troupes of each local government area of the state dancing around the city of Ibadan from the opening day.

The motorcades, according to her, will be five per day with five local government troupes going about town for six hours per day while the second group would follow immediately.

"There will be a performance grading to declare a winner among the local governments," she said.

She listed other features of the event to include the ''Kembe/Yeri'' Carnival for youths from 18 years and above which is to re-orientate participants on traditional dress code; ''Areoyo'', Reality Game and Business Initiative whereby participants would be involved in a reality competition that is set in the aspect of war; Oba's Summit whereby all the top traditional rulers in Oyo State would attend a seminar/interactive session for the development of the state; as well as the Fuji Nite and the Miss Tourism Contest, she said.

She also listed various tourist sites in Oyo State to include Bower Tower, Agodi Gardens, Ado-Awaye Suspended Lake, Osoogun town which is Bishop Ajayi Crowther's place of birth, the Royal Forest "Igbo Oba" in Igboho; Old Oyo National Park; the mythical Agbele Rock which depicts the picture of a woman carrying a load of dried sliced yams and a baby strapped at her back as well as the over 350 years old wonderful Tortoise "Alagba" domiciled within the Palace of Soun of Ogbomoso.

The commissioner promised that the carnival would be self-sustaining, as some governmental agencies as well as corporate bodies had signified their intentions to partner the ministry and the tourism board.

She maintained that the present administration in Oyo State under the leadership of Adebayo Alao-Akala "is committed to the development of tourism in the state," adding, "the ongoing massive investment in road network rehabilitation and reconstruction attest to this as they will in no small way, cushion the hardship facing tourists in the state."

why cant they find sponsors?

The eyo festival that happened in Lagos state, cost around N100 million and it was paid for by the main sponsor Globalcom (Glo). Other sponsors such as indomine, coke etc also took part.

The festival can develop the states tourism potential, but why waste your money when u can get private sponsors.