By Japhet Alakam

In line with the re- branding project of the federal government, and as part of their contribution towards the revival of the fading Yoruba culture, a socio -cultural organisation known as Egbe Omo Odua in Ireland in collaboration with Active Agent, a non governmental organisation last week announced plans to hold a week long cultural extravaganza tagged, Oodua Heritage Week in far away Dublin.

The event which is its maiden edition with the theme, Yoruba Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is aimed at promoting the culture and values of the people of Yoruba that have been abandoned by the present generation and also to project the positive sides of the Yoruba culture to the people of Ireland .

The event which has already received commendation from the people in Nigeria is scheduled to hold from 5th to 10th of September, 2011 at Hilton Hotel, Dublin, Ireland.

In a press conference held ahead of the event in Lagos, the President of Egbe Omo Oodua in Ireland, Mr Olatunde Lawal disclosed that the event is put together in order to promote the Yoruba culture with focus on bringing the culture to Ireland for them to know that apart from the negative things like hunger, fraud, disarray etc they hear about Nigeria, that the country has a rich cultural heritage.

“As a result of the way most Nigerians came to Ireland, they were forced to assimilate the foreign culture at the detriment of their own culture and that has made them do certain things without respect to our culture so we decided to get ourselves together to present our culture to them so that they can know our culture and at the same time to let them also know where we come from.” He explained.

According to him, the high profile event will feature many great Yoruba culture icons who will speak about culture during the week, among them are culture exponent, Ambassador Segun Olusola, film producer Tunde Kelani, even as some traditional rulers from Yoruba land and State Governments have indicated their interest to be part of the event.

Continuing, Lawal who is a community development practitioner based in Ireland also disclosed that most Nigerians families in Ireland are single parents, and that there are a lot of domestic violence, use of knives, lack of respect for elders, inability to speak the mother tongue among other things among Nigerians there.

Another interesting part of the event he pointed out is that “the activities lined up will afford our children and wives the opportunity to see and listen to the true Yoruba cultural heroes.”

Also contributing, the event coordinator in Nigeria, Olabisi Amoke Marinho who confessed to be a true thorough bred Yoruba woman stated that it is an opportunity she has longed for as “culture to me is very important, the event will look at the culture, the character of the children especially their inability to respect their elders, where we are today among other things. I am not looking at now but the future and the influence it will have over the children and their future.” She added.