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Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Achebe
By Alphonsus Nweze, Onitsha
In a bid to improve and shore up the popularity of the annual Onitsha Ofala Festival, the Steering Committee has launched its official Website.
The site according to a statement by the Steering Committee of the festival, will serve as a primary source of information about the festival that will hold on October 14 and 15 October,2023.
According to a statement endorsed by Tony Nezianya, the Editorial Publicity Lead of the Ofala, the committee is made up of Onitsha indigenes of broad and cross-section of constituent groups at home and abroad to plan and execute sectional festivals under the authority of the Obi in Council.
“The website is designed to serve as a distinct and central hub for all information related to the Ofala. Before this, details about the festival were provided amongst others on the website of the Onitsha Traditional Council”he said.
The website, according to Nezianya, “provides an opportunity for a better appreciation of the cross-section of information on actual Ofala celebration, including displaying highlights during the post-Ofala period”.
“The website would showcase activities leading to the next Ofala. https://ofala.org/ offers a user-friendly experience with simple navigation, ensuring that visitors can easily explore its content and access valuable information on the Ofala festival” he said.
Lauding the setting up of the Website, Chief (Dr.) Okechukwu Mike Areh, Onya Ozoma of Onitsha, and Chairman of the Ofala Steering Committee, said that a website is an essential tool in “attracting considerable national, West African and international attention for the Ofala,”
He added : “It will help in ensuring that the Ofala attains the status of a major event in the Nigeria, and by extension in the West African cultural/tourism calendar”.
Ofala Steering Committee invited visitors to explore the new website, drawing attention to the pages on the events, programme of activities and the resources section.
The committee required journalists including photographers interested in covering the Ofala events to register via the accreditation portal which will close on Wednesday. October 4, 2023.
Ofala festival, rooted in deep spirituality, is an occasion for the monarch to fulfil certain obligations to his subjects.
It is primarily a celebration by the monarch and his subjects, when the monarchl emerges from annual seclusion, during which period the monarch has successfully negotiated the fortune of the king.
The Ofala is also a reenactment of the joy that the monarch shared with his subjects, at the discovery that yam is a valuable source of nutrition.
