MTN Continues Drive For Cultural Renaissance With Osun Osogbo Festival

L-R: Bajo Onafuwa, Customer Relations Manager, MTN Nigeria, Otunba Ayo Olumoko, Osun Osogbo Festival Chairman and HRM Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun Larooye 2, The Ataoja of Osogboland at the 2018 Osun Osogbo Festival stakeholders forum at Ataoja’s palace in Osun State

As part of its efforts to promote arts and culture in Nigeria, the nation’s leading ICT company, MTN Nigeria will again be supporting the Osun Osogbo Festival this year.

Set to hold from 9 to 25 August, the festival will see thousands of local and foreign tourists as well as Osun goddess devotees make their way to Osogbo, Osun State.

Celebrated for over a century, the Osun Osogbo Festival, which is a major socio-cultural event of the Osogbo people, was built around the relationship between the river goddess, Osun and the first monarch of Osogbo kingdom, Oba Gbadewolu Laroye.

Speaking on MTN’s support of the Festival, Adekunle Adebiyi, the Sales and Distribution Executive, MTN Nigeria said: “It is always an exciting experience when we get to support festivals every year. We enrich them, make them bigger and better. Osun Osogbo is one of such festivals and we are proud to be a part of the regal event again this year.”

MTN’s support of the Osun Osogbo Festival is part of its larger initiative, KultureFest, to make a positive and enduring impact on the country’s socio-cultural landscape through its support of festivals across the country.

The initiative is borne out of the desire to preserve and project the country’s rich cultural heritage.

It puts various cultural festivals in the country on the international pedestal and also galvanises their potential to generate revenue for the communities and engender communal bonding.

Reiterating the essence of KultureFest, Adebiyi, added:“KultureFest is a major investment for us. We’ve been supporting festivals for over a decade now as we seek to promote culture and create affinity between the people of Nigerian communities and the MTN brand. We are picking 37 festivals across the country this year and I believe that by next year the number will increase.”

MTN has facilitated the renaissance of arts and culture in Nigeria, and through its Kulturefest initiative, the company has established itself as a strong pillar behind major festivals such as Osun Osogbo, Ofala Nnewi, Argungun and Anioma, among other festivals across the country.