The Governor of the State of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola on Saturday launched mass production, promotion and marketing of Adire Osun.
This is even as the Governor made it compulsory for all the public and civil servants to wear the local fabric, as he declared every Thursday of the week ‘Adire Osun Day’.
The initiative is in furtherance of the Administration’s efforts to preserve and promote the production of Adire Osun as well as bolster the image of Osun as a culturally correct and indigenous product inclined State.
He said the International Fashion Week and the Launch of Adire Osun are no doubt giant strides towards diversifying the State’s economy and creating jobs for the teeming youths.
To achieve the initiative and take its plans to fruition, the State Government has partnered with Musty Great Development and Alexandria Jones Couture, U.S.A., to organise the International Fashion Week, for the promotion of Osun brand of Adire (Adire Eleko) for Global exhibition.
Oyetola said Adire is indigenous to Osun and that it is not for nothing that Osogbo, the State capital, is referred to as ‘Ilu Aro’ (Home of dye).
Launching the laudable culturally-inclined initiative, at the De-Destinguished Event Centre, Osogbo, Oyetola said the initiative was to reawaken the people’s consciousness towards sociocultural and artistic renaissance in the State.
Oyetola who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, reiterated the Administration’s commitment to promote and project culture to the world in a way that will draw attention and attract humongous revenue to the State.
He stressed that the State under his watch would continue to support the cause of employing indigenous resources to grow her revenue base, saying the initiative for cultural repositioning, renaissance and economic recovery were in line with the Administration’s Development Agenda.
Oyetola stated further: “I wish to recall that at the inauguration of this Administration under my leadership, I did state that the economy of our State should be repositioned and that Economic Summit would be organised to, among other initiatives, develop strategies that would drive meaningful youth employment, enhance food security and agricultural development, activate mining prospects and boost tourism potential of the State.
“You will also recall that I stated in my inauguration speech that the Medium and Small-Scale Enterprises would be strengthened to enhance their productive capacity so as to generate jobs, create wealth and further boost our local economy.
“I also promised that the State of Osun would be made a cultural destination and tourism enterprise zone in the South West.
“It is in line with the above Vision that the Government has swung into action by harnessing all the various tourism resources that the State is greatly endowed with.
“Due to the various commitments of the State Government, the Federal Government and other Private and Public Development Partners are collaborating with the State for the provision of infrastructure and the upgrade of our cultural and tourism sites to global standards.”
Governor Oyetola who declared Thursday as ‘Adire Osun Day’ announced that it has become compulsory henceforth, for all the Public and Civil Servants to wear Adire same day as part of efforts to quicken the actualisation of the set objectives of the initiative as Osun remains the leading light in African culture and tradition in the country.
He also urged the residents to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the initiative to draw economic opportunities and benefits to themselves for huge economic development.
“In furtherance of efforts of this Government to preserve and promote the production of Adire Osun as well as bolster the image of Osun as a culturally correct and indigenous product inclined State, every Thursday has been declared Adire Osun Day. Consequently, effective from August 27th, 2021, all Public and Civil Servants in the State shall wear Adire to work”, he declared.
Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Adebisi Obawale, said the initiative was aimed at unlocking the untapped potential in the areas of culture, fashion and tourism.
According to him, the purpose is to build marketing channels through which Adire products would be produced, promoted and marketed globally.
Obawale noted that the epoch-making event has brought participants from far and near, most importantly from five countries of the world to Osun as part of efforts to ensure that Osun takes its rightful position in culture and tourism.
Obawale said to achieve the initiative, government has organised producers’ association, formed them into cooperative society and registered them with the Ministry of Commerce.
Obawale further said that to achieve the full benefits of the opportunity, government would deploy new marketing technology, give relevant training to get the best quality products and impact necessary ethical training on the producers and marketers to remain relevant at all times in the market.
“In November last year, the State Government declared emergency in culture and tourism by the launch of Master Plan. As a short-term focus, we have identified 30 critical areas that need urgent attention and must be addressed to actualise culture and tourism of our government dream.
“As the first government to consider tourism as potential for economic diversification and sustainability, we have kept faith with our commitment to resuscitate the dying culture by resolving to allow the State to take her rightful position in the history of Adire in the world.
“Our tourism for sustainable economy, launched last year, is also premised on youth engagement as job provision is a critical element of well-intentioned policy in today’s world. Today’s event is in support of our youths and it is aimed at opening their eyes to age long untapped potential in the area of fashion.
“The three-day event has training contents with about 120 trainees to be given certificate of attendance at the end of this programme.
“In our Adire Osun repositioning strategy, we have identified three levels to be addressed: production, promotion and marketing, and the commitment of our partners includes building a marketing network where designers outside Nigeria will purchase Adire directly from producers in our State,” Obawale added.
In their separate remarks, the Chairman of the occasion and Publisher Alaroye Newspaper Publications, Mr. Musa Adedayo; Culture Icon, Mrs. Nike Okundaye; Chief Jimoh Buraimon and Chief Muraina Oyelami, all urged residents of the State to brace up to their responsibility by promoting their cultural heritage to the outside world.
