Cultural revival will take youths out of crime, poverty – HRM Gibson Nwosu
Maduako Igbokwe l Thursday, April 15, 2021
ONITSHA, Anambra – It was a celebration of cultural values and identity last week when the entire sons and daughters of Amikwo community, Awka Anambra state home and abroad gathered together to celebrate their cultural ingenuity.
The carnival which was designed to redirect the people towards the cultural heritage attracted who is who in the town. Among them is Anambra state commissioner for Diaspora Affairs and Tourism, Dr. Kenneth Anierobi , House member representing Awka North / South Federal Constituency at the House of Representative, Hon. Chinedu Onwuaso, All Progressive Congress (APC )Governorship aspirant, Dr. Amobi Nwakafor , the CEO of Annabel Hotel and Suites Awka, Ambassador Collins Ilosanya and Chairman ,Awka Capital Development Authority Sir. Herbert Dike, among others. The cultural day featured various cultural dances with masquerades from the community
Amikwo which had been popular with cultural outings with masquerades in ancient time, but it is disheartening now that the beautiful tradition and culture have suffered a great set back and it is almost going into extinct ion.
Given the disappearing cultural value and norms, the community decided to have a cultural rebirth to restore the cultural glory of the community .
Declaring open the event, chairman of the occasion, Richard Nwanna said the event was designed to revive the cultural heritage of Amikwo people .
According to him, the initiative is to rediscover cherished cultural heritage of Amikwo and for the development of the community. Nwanna said they decided to into the cultural celebration some developmental programmes that would help to develop the human and material resources of the area .
He said that the children are suffering due to what is not their fault but the society. He added that they have put in place programmes for development of the community.
According to him, Amikwo people are good people known for various traditional skills like goldsmith and others.
He called on the people to look inwards into the values of Amikwo and embrace those thing that make them thick and great . He also urged various villages in the town to bring names of people that can be enlisted into a scholarship programme . He said the community shall be giving stipends to elderly people who had served them with their youthful energy and strength .
An 84 years old man from the community, Chief Patrick Nweke who spoke to our correspondent said that it is a good development that some young men decided to restore cultural value of the community. ” I praised our children who volunteered to organise this cultural carnival. Culture is an important aspect of the people’s lives and we must not allow it to die. The important of this cultural day celebration is great and we must support it” he said.
According to him, with cultural rebirth, we can train our children in our cultural values such as goldsmith , farming combined with western education and other skills will wonderful. He said that in Awka, Amikwo is the head in terms of culture and craft but that it is already waning.
“Amikwo heads Awka in terms of culture . We do the Igu -Aru, the counting of moon , Mgbankiti, the warriors group in Awka. Amikwo has the strength to lead the entire Awka to a successful war .
During Mgbankiti no member is to eat food ,they always move with palm front in their months. We also have Igbo nkwa ,within the period it is regarded as holiday for our people .
“In those days our people travelled with their legs for a very long distance and when they come back they did ceremony thanking God for their journey mercies .They kill goats ,chickens and indulge in a lot of celebration, ” he said.
He also said that there is need to include lectures and seminars into the cultural day celebrations to educate the people on the need to revive the culture and values of the town .
“Honestly , we need you to revive our culture and values and there is nothing wrong with it” he said .
Also speaking, another elder of the community , Chief Justin Okafor ,said he was happy that the youths came up with idea to revive the culture of Amikwo. According to him, Amikwo is a great town that produces who- is-who in Anambra and Nigeria, adding that people coming together to bringing back it’s culture is indeed a great thing to behold .
“I am happy for this cultural day we are having today . You can see that the children are happy watching the masquerades dance and other cultural dances . With this cultural day ,it will help our children to know our culture and values which are lacking today among them .It is a welcome development for us. I will say let us sustain this cultural day in our community ” he said .
In his reaction, CEO of Annabel Hotel and suites ,Chief Collin Iloanya commended organisers of the event . According to him, this will bring development to the community as during the celebration many developmental projects would be embarked upon.
“I am happy for this cultural day ,this is the first time it was organised and the turn up was great meaning that people have been looking forwards to such event over the years. With this kind of celebration the younger one will feel at home and will also avoid some of the criminal activities they are into now because they will be disconnected ” he stated .
According to him, with what has happened today, Amikwo culture and values will rise to greater height. Speaking to reporters, House member representing Awka North and South in the House of Representative, Hon. Chinedu Onwuaso said with what has happened the culture of the town is beginning to rise .
He said culture has always been very important aspect of any people and must be revived for the good of the town. According to him, there is need to look into our culture and celebrate it for our glory .
” You see our people are happy with what happened in the cultural day celebration .We need to build and revive it ,culture is not sin ,people are known with their culture and we have one. I want the world to know us with our own culture” he said.
The traditional ruler of the Awka kingdom ,His Royal Majesty ,Dr. Gibson Nwosu commended the organizers of the cultural day ,noting that the event has rekindle a new senses of pride and self worth in Amikwo people .
“From today our people will stand tall and reach out to what rightly belong to them ” he said. According to him, what the organisers have done today was to let the world know that Amikwo is a prominent component of Awka town.
‘It gladdens my heart that this initiative is being championed altruistically by our young people . I call on all Amikwo sons and daughters of all ages to come out boldly and support this great initiative. We also appeal to the organisers to put all necessary requirement in place so that this initiative will be sustained .It should be now celebrated regularly, tangible programme and projects should be incorporated for greater benefits of our people .
“We believe that if we take advantage of this initiative and the platform it provided for people to come together , we can move Amikwo community forward through self-help projects . Let it be the beginning of a new communal spirit.
“We expect to see programmes of empowerment and mentorship of our youths . Let it signal an end to the burgeoning characterization of Amikwo as a den of bad boys and cultism. You can pull our bad youths out of crime, poverty and ignorance ” he said .
