Uturu (Abia) – The Igbo cultural carnival, held from Dec. 29 to Jan. 1, in Uturu, Abia gulped more than N50 million, the initiator, Dr Greg Ibe, has said. Ibe disclosed this on Friday in an interview at Uturu, Abia.
According to him, the amount covered transportation, accommodation, feeding and other logistics for troupes that attended the festival.
He said that 13 states, including the South East and South South states, attended the event, which was organised by the Igbo Renaissance Centre (IRC), Gregory University, Uturu. He described the four days event as “the only carnival that represents the Igbo culture and norms.’’
He said that the Federal Government had identified with the carnival but regretted that the state government had not shown interest in the fiesta. “A bit of government’s involvement will add colour to the carnival.
“My belief is that government should inherit it in the spirit of the Public, Private Partnership,’’ he said. Ibe said that the Director of African Museum, Prof. Jonathan Cole, also led a delegation to Uturu to get the historical fact about the culture of the place.
He admonished political leaders to change their attitude toward the Igbo culture, saying “government should be for the people.’’
He alleged that political leaders “have not done much in representing the people that elected them into office.’’ Ibe, who is the Chancellor of the University, said that every aspect of the Igbo culture would be documented by IRC.
He said that the choice of Uturu for the carnival was informed by the historical fact that traced the origin of man in the southern Nigeria to the Ururu cave.
“The World Archaeological journal has such record and Ahiajoku lecture also identified the Uturu cave as the ancient kingdom,’’ he said. (NAN)
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