Ugo Ferdinand Ukwueze, the chairperson of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Council of Enugu State, has called for the preservation of the New Yam Festival and other Igbo cultural practices.
He made the call in a Facebook post on 14 September, a day after he joined the traditional rulers in Igbo-Eze South at the Palace of His Royal Highness, Igwe Barnabas Okechukwu Agbaji, Enyi 1 of Unadu, Chairman, Igbo-Eze South Traditional Rulers Council, to celebrate the New Yam Festival in the area.
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Mr Ukwueze was accompanied by the Chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party in Igbo-Eze South, Amedu Ejike.
The New Yam Festival, celebrated annually among the Igbos in Nigeria’s south-east, is a cultural event that marks the harvest of the new yam. Yam is revered in Igboland as the “king of crops” and a symbol of life and prosperity.
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“The festival reflects our people’s enduring values of gratitude, peace and reverence for the land that sustains us. It reminds us of the wealth of our cultural heritage and identity, and underscores the need to preserve it for future generations, just as our forefathers preserved and handed it down to us,” the Igbo-Eze South chairperson, Mr Ukwueze, stated in the Facebook post.
The chairperson commended the Enyi 1 of Unadu for his leadership and steadfastness in sustaining the age-long cultural practice “that serves as a rallying point for our people”.
“It reinforced my conviction that our cultural and traditional heritage remains a vital pillar for communal harmony and sustainability, which informed our insistence as a government never to allow our cultural practices to be used as covers for criminality,” he added.
Mr Ukwueze urged other community leaders to continue preserving and promoting the Igbo cultural heritage in ways that truly reflect its essence and enduring significance.
