Ogun State government is set to incorporate afrobeat music into it’s annual African Drum Festival to make it ‘bigger and better”.
The State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who disclosed this while playing host to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta yesterday, said the decision was aimed at promoting the music made popular by an indigene of the State, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
“Ogun State has been hosting the Drum Festival in the past. We are going to take it a step higher. We are going to have the drum and afrobeat festival. It is going to be a bit bigger than the drum festival”, he said.
Governor Abiodun also disclosed that 30 hectares of land had been allocated for the Creative Arts Village whose construction would commence in the third quarter of this year.
He said efforts are on to have a more than 15,000 seater conference hall that would be like a “mini Hollywood”, where those in the music industry would use to express themselves.He lauded the Oba Ogunwusi for making the youth proud by promoting the Yoruba culture and “adding colour to the throne”.
Speaking earlier, Oba Ogunwusi, described Ogun State as a shining example in self-sustainability, adding that the State with its human and natural resources was a force to be reckoned with in the comity of states.While assuring the Governor of his continued prayers and useful advice, the monarch expressed confidence that the Governor would succeed in taking the State to the next level.