The Federal Government's 'Award of Excellence in Culture' was bestowed upon the Ofala Festival. The award recognizes the Ofala festival's outstanding and excellent contributions to the development and preservation of Nigeria's cultural heritage. The award was presented at the First United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Tourism, Culture, and the Creative Industries as Pathways to Recovery and Inclusive Development, which recently concluded in Lagos.
The Ofala represents the pinnacle of the Onitsha ceremonial cycle. This two-day spectacle of royal dances, tributes, parades, and music, with the Obi of Onitsha as the celebrant, is rooted in deep spirituality. It is an opportunity for the monarch to fulfill certain responsibilities. The Ofala is primarily a celebration by the monarch and his subjects of the monarch's annual return from seclusion, during which time the monarch has successfully negotiated the kingdom's fortunes. It is also a recreation of the monarch's and his subjects' joy at discovering that yam is nontoxic and a valuable source of food.
The award was presented to His Majesty, Nnaemeka Achebe, Obi of Onitsha, during a gala night and command performance during the conference in Lagos by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and the UNWTO Secretary General, Mr. Zurab Pololikashvili.
Speaking about the award, His Majesty expressed gratitude on behalf of the Onitsha community to both the federal government and the UNWTO. "This recognition, combined with the endorsement of the Ofala by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, has further enhanced our goals of attracting considerable national, west African, and international attention to the Ofala and getting the festival to attain the status of a major event in the Nigerian, and by extension, in the West African cultural/tourism calendar," he says.
