– Chief Fagbayi Oluwasesan, Ogun State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism
Chief Fagbayi Oluwasesan was one of the delegates at the recent NAFEST Review Conference in Abuja courtesy of the Director General of National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC). We met him during the tour of the Arts and Craft Market put together by NCAC, where he shared his impression of the review conference and some of the plans for Ogun State Arts And Culture.
What is your perception and what do you feel about this NAFEST Review ConferenceÂ
It feels good to be here. This is my first time of coming around this arts and crafts market in Abuja and the atmosphere, the environment, the structure, everything is okay.
Is Ogun state culture being portrayed in this market?
I would say Yes! And No! When it comes to Adire I will say yes. I have seen a lot of Adire being displayed here. You know we’re just from the Southwest to see how the shops here are equipped. To God be the glory, this level they have gone they will continue to improve on it.
So as a commissioner do you have plans to improve that segment of an arts and crafts market in Southwest specifically Ogun state?
Definitely, Yes! now we don’t have stand here yet. I was asking my people, where is our stand here? We don’t have stand here but as we are returning back I will have a discussion with the governor for us to come and have a stand here, so that we can show what God has been giving to our state as a potential heritage.
Do you have a village like this in Ogun state? Culture village
Not yet.
When do you think we can have it ?
Definitely we are just about 2 months in office and we have been working with the governor to have something like this in the state and he promised that definitely before his tenure ends we will surely have something like this in the state.
Now if you have your stand here, what are the cultural material you are intending to show case.Â
We have Adire that is very germane to Ogun state, the tye and dye you know, is available too. That is key to us, Ogun state is known for Tye and Dye. We have that, that will be displayed here, we also have, you know, some of our cultural costumes like Eyo you know Eyo belongs to Ogun state. It is from Iperu, that’s the home town of the governor, they took it down to Lagos probably during the course of marriage and Lagos took it up, you know, we are also planning to celebrate it in Ogun state, sometime next year. Because the governor is passionate about it. We can’t take Eyo away from Lagos, but it is originated from Iperu. It is not a new history, it is a well known fact.
When they are celebrating, we also are celebrating. They highjacked it, they took it to the next level and it became like a brand in Lagos. You know we will have some of those things here in this arts and crafts market in Abuja, when we have our own stand.
So what about your local cuisines, or don’t you have local cuisines?
We have Ikokore, Kokoro is in Ogun state, Aadun and so on.
