Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe has reiterated the imperative of directly engaging traditional rulers in governance.
Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe in a group photograph with the Olujumu of Ijumu kingdom, Oba Williams Olusegun Ayeni, with wife and the rest of his entourage during their courtesy visit to Nigeria Culture House in Abuja
Otunba Runsewe said this when he received in audience a delegation from Ijumu, in Kogi State led by His Royal Majesty, Oba Williams Olusegun Ayeni, the Olujumu of Ijumu Kingdom which paid him a courtesy visit at the Nigerian Culture House.
Runsewe noted that as the primary custodian of culture and tradition, the traditional rulers play a very vital role of maintaining peace in their various communities, adding further that the traditional institution ‘is the closest to the grassroots which makes it possible for the traditional rulers to easily detect trouble spots and violence and curb them from escalation.’
“For the rate of crime and criminality, youth restiveness to take a downward turn in our society, the traditional institutions should be recognized and assigned constitutional roles of chief security officers of their various domains,” Otunba Runsewe said.
The NCAC Director General further revealed that the high rate of crime and criminality in various parts of the country stem from the fast eroding norms, culture and tradition of our people.
He opined that as primary custodians of our various traditions and Culture, the traditional rulers will make our traditional institutions a veritable springboard for cultural reorientation for our teeming youths who have gone under the wild influence of westernization.
Speaking earlier, leader of the delegation, His Royal Majesty, Oba Williams Olusegun Ayeni, Olujumu of Ijumu Kingdom expressed profound gratitude for the warm hospitality accorded him and members of his entourage.
His Royal Majesty said before the advent of Christianity in Ijumu kingdom, tradition and Culture played key roles in the administration of the Kingdom but regrets that most of the beliefs, customs and traditions of the people of his kingdom have been lost.
Oba Ayeni maintained that on his ascension to the throne of his fore fathers, the need to reintroduce the lost culture and traditions of the people came to the front burner.
The monarch told Runsewe that ‘as the Icon and Ambassador of the Nigerian Culture,’ his delegation was in his office to inform and officially invite him to the first-ever Indigenous Ijumu Cultural Festival coming up on November 4, at the Ojumu Palace, Iyara in Kogi State.
The Director General thanked the delegation for the visit which, according to him, is accompanied with royal blessings and assured His Royal Majesty of the Council’s support to make the festival very remarkable.
It would be noted that Oba Ayeni is the first royal father to visit the Nigerian Culture House.
