By Benjamin Njoku

IT was with pomp, class and pageantry that the 2009 edition of the re-branded Ozuruimo Festival held at Owerri, Imo State. The four-day pan Imo State cultural and arts festival began, October 28, 2009, with a colloquium paper delivered by Prof. Aloy Ejiogu, of the University of Lagos. The theme of the thought provoking lecture, which held at the expansive Multi-Purpose Hall, Owerri, was:

“The Resuscitation of Mbari Culture As A Depiction of Igbo Industry.”Prof. Ejiogu, in his well-researched presentation held the guests, which included traditional rulers students of secondary and tertiary institutions, VIPs and a host of other guests and participants spellbound. According to the erudite scholar, Mbari, is a peoples’ way of life and a very significant aspect of a peoples’ culture, especially the Igbos, who inhabit(ed) what is now known as Imo State, in the South East geo political zone of Nigeria.

“Mbari, is said to be derived from the Igbo word of creation. Mbari, may, therefore, be understood as a house of creativity (creation). Mbari is life and language. It is all about the daily life of action and thoughts encoded in mud, the symbolic language of rituals, proverbs and myth, encrypted in colour. It is about the promises and hopes of a people, graphically presented in a house erected as a monument to a powerful deity, such as the earth deity, Ala, believed to posses the power of fertility over the people,” he lectured.”

Prof. Ejiogu, concluded his lecture by urging Ndigbo, especially the Imo State indigenes, not to allow the Mbari cultural institution to die. He also called for the development of the remnants and glimpses of Mbari, into tourist institutions. “The Imo State government should join hands and put up a central Mbari centre that would showcase and further preserve this culture that is fast fading away,” he pleaded.

In her vote of thanks at the end of the colloquium, international songster, Onyeka Onwenu, who is  also the chairman of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture (ISCAC), organizers of the festival thanked Prof. Ejiogu for dissecting and giving verve to the topic. Onwenu, who kept beaming with smiles while the event lasted, also, thanked the Imo State Governor, Ikedi Ohakim, for helping to resuscitate the annual festival that began in 1989, promising that more good things would be witnessed at ISCAC, under her tenure.

She also hailed members of the festival organizing committee, adding that it was fun and memorable working with them all. “I can’t thank them enough for helping to make this festival very successful.”

The Ozuruimo Festival continued the following day with a scintillating and very colourful Boat Regatta, at the famous Oguta Wonder Lake. At the Boat Regatta, several dance troupes and groups competed for honour and glory in their various beautifully decorated canoes, to the admiration of the guests and villagers. Several masquerades also gathered at the lake’s main arena, to display and entertain guests with unending acrobatic styles and stunts.

At the end of the whole day event, which was well attended, by visitors, participants, villagers and VIPs, the Otu Ajashi Age Grade, was declared the overall winner, by the panel of judges. The cultural extravaganza that rocked non-stop for four days eventually came to a beautiful and memorable end on Saturday, October 31, with a splendid Carnival Float, which was staged through out the major streets and roads of Owerri, as part of the activities marking the grand finale.