Glo-sponsored 2017 Lisabi Festival begins

Activities marking the 2017 Lisabi Festival sponsored by the next generation network, Globacom, begin next Monday morning with the booming of guns on the precincts of Olumo Rock while the traditional inter-compound dance “woro” that usually takes place as part of the opening process will now  hold during the grand finale on Saturday, March 4th at the Ake Palace grounds.
The Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo who disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference held in his palace in Abeokuta also announced that the visit to the Lisabi groove which usually holds on the Saturday of the week- long festival would now take place on Thursday to give room for a grand celebration of fun and merriment during the grand finale on Saturday.
He revealed that Chief Duro Odebunmi from the Gbagura section of Egbaland is the 2017 Lisabi Hero of the year. Oba Gbadebo said a life size statute of Lisabi will soon be erected in Abeokuta and described the theme of this year’s Lisabi Festival, “Self reliance through agriculture for a secured future”, as the surest way to bail Nigeria out of the current economic recession.
“We are just emphasizing what had been said many times before. We should be able to feed ourselves. We should examine why we prefer exotic rice to our own ofada rice. We are calling on our people to go back to the land by embracing agriculture. They should do poultry, fisheries, snaillery and so on as agriculture is our forte in Nigeria,” Oba Gbadebo concluded.
The Alake of Egbaland observed that the annual themes were usually carefully chosen to resolve germane challenges facing Egbaland. He recalled that three years ago the theme was to stem the tide of pregnancies amongst Egba girls who got impregnated prematurely rather than attending schools while the need for Egba youths to be self employed by embracing vocations was the focus last year.
The monarch commended Globacom for providing robust support for preservation of culture in the country, adding that “Glo is number one in culture and support for the people. The company pioneered per second billing and others followed. We are looking forward to the sale of Lisabi special SIM cards”.
In his remarks earlier, Globacom’s National Commercial Coordinator, Mr. Yomi Ogunbamowo, congratulated all Egba indigenes at home and abroad for being alive to witness this year’s festival, adding that Globacom was proud to be associated with Egbaland in continuation of its support for preservation of cultural heritages.
He also commended the theme of the festival, describing it as germane, adding that it is a veritable means of revamping the economy and taming the unemployment monster if properly harnessed.