The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, has said that the ancient city of Ile-Ife has devised several means to ensure that the effects of recession was not felt by residents.
He said this during the celebration of Odun Aaje (festival of wealth) in Ile-Ife on Monday.
During the festival, residents and worshippers from different part of the world were seen praying for wealth and abundance.
Addressing journalists at the sideline of the festival, Ooni said trade by barter remained one of the best trading system in the world.
According to him, Nigeria and many parts of Africa began to have economic challenges when they relegated traditional trading methods.
To revive Nigeria and Africa economy, His Imperial Majesty advised that the nature should be upheld in addition to massive involvement in agriculture.
When asked if non-celebration of a festival contributed to the economic hardship in Nigeria, the Ooni said, “Affirmative. It is because we are not paying obeisance to what we should paying it to. Before colonisation started, our forefathers did all these and they survive in abundance.
He said, “We are paying obeisance to the creation of God. Aje is something that everybody crave for. If we do what we are supposed to be doing, we will be a leading country in the world as it used to be at some point and things will turn around.
“It is even turning around for us already in Ile-Ife. We don’t have anything that we do than worship nature and everything is booming despite the recession. We are focusing on agriculture and youths empowerment too. This is one thing other race and nation can emulate.”
Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Folashade Tinubu, advised leaders in the country to use the opportunity of the festival to intensify efforts in ending recession in the country.
She said, “Today is about our tradition, culture. It is a very important festival to boost our economy. I hope government will provide the enabling environment to keep this up. All countries have their tradition and ways of getting things resolved. Our leaders should work tirelessly to ensure that recession is not allowed to stay.”
Popular Musician, Wasiu Ayinde (Kwam 1), saluted the dogness of the Ooni for ensuring that culture of the yoruba race do not perish.
“I am here to celebrate Aje which symbolises wealth. I congratulate Ooni for being the custodian of tradition. It furthers shows the richness of yoruba culture and this should continue,” he added.
A lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, Dr. Adeola Faleye, said the significance of Aje to human existence made the festival necessary.
She said, “Aje stands for wealth, womanhood, it has a lot to do with commerce and trading. It is the mother of wealth. It a wealthy spirit that transforms to a woman.
“It used to be trade by better in the historical setting but the mythology of Aje informed that at a particular time, every people stopped enjoying and this was what the Ooni was asked to do.
“To live long, good health, you need to pay for something. The importance of Aje is beyond a mere celebration, it is a collection of all form of trading to build the economy of the nation. It is a uniting factor to wealth and an element that no one dislikes.”
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