BY ADA
DIKE
The Artistic Director of Royal
Star Entertainment Production (ROSEP), Chief Femi Tade, has suggested ways
tradition religion can help in tackling social malaise in Nigeria.
ROSEP Director hinted this on the
occasion of ROSEP public lecture and recognition in commemoration of Nigeria’s
uniqueness at 55 held at Oyo State Council for Arts & Culture Cultural
Centre, Mokola, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria on Saturday October 31, 2015,
Tade made this call in a he
speech delivered on behalf of the board of Trustees and entire management of
ROSEP at the celebration of Nigeria’s 55th independence anniversary in fulfillment
of the ROSEP 6th African Culture Preservation and Presentation Advocacy
Programme and Make a Change Campaign Initiative.
According to him, “Make a Change
Campaign Initiative” is designed by ROSEP with the sole purpose of using an
artistic approach to combat social ills, using entertainment, enlightening and
educative programme as a medium of communication on various issues of relevance
to the people and the society.
In his words: “With the “Make a
Change Campaign Initiative”, we intend to reach out through the arts and other
forms of entertainment such as Musical Performance, Poetry, Drama and Advocacy
Lecture to bring together and inspire audiences across all ages, gender and
culture, ethnic and economical background as these are the ideal and most
potent mediums to connect people, build bridges and mobilize action towards a
common goal.
“ROSEP is committed to the
betterment of our society especially this generation and the coming ones we began our activity
some years ago with the promise that through art we could act as a catalyst for
positive change in our community through
love to bring positive changes to the world, we desire to building
Nigerian free from religious violence.
“The need to give special
recognition of and encourage to our dying traditional religion and way of life
is the thoughts and ideal behind the initiation of African Culture Preservation
and presentation Advocacy Programme, The focus, mostly, is to explore the importance
of traditional value in national development
“Africans are renowned for their
high moral and cultural values which currently are rapidly being eroded by the
incessant incursion of foreign cultures, which has led many young Africans to
pain, anguish and disappointment as they attempt to imitate the foreign
culture.
“In African religion, we have Orisa and these
are the Deities that serve as Link between Us and Olodumare the Creator of All
Things, we have put our traditional religion in the cooler Religion is the
medium, through which man relates with his creator and the whole essence of
religion is peace on earth, before the inception of Christianity and Islam, our
forefathers have been practicing the traditional religion without religion war
or violence.
“In Nigeria, there is various
religion such as Traditional Religion, Christianity and Islam, in each of these
we have beliefs in God or the supernatural and In the world generally we have
different religion such as Hinduism,
Judaism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Altruism and there are formal ways of
worship, ways of sacrifice and of prayers. All religions call for peace,
quality and respect for each other without destroying lives.
“The Almighty God called by
various names by various people in Nigeria alone such as God, Olojo Oni, Oba Aseda, Olodumare, Allah, Chukwu, Abasi, Olorun,
Ozanobuwa, Olohun, Yahweh, Oluwa etc,
The Africans believe in a Supreme
power. Many of them have belief in Traditional religion. This was the first
type of religion in Africa. The people who believe in traditional religion have
the belief that Olodumare or Chukwu is the Supreme power of these
gods and goddesses such as Ogun, Oya,
Sango, Yemoja, Ifa, Obatala and so on.”
They are worshipped in shrines regularly by
their worshippers.
Christianity was brought to
Africa from European countries. The Christians believe in Holy Trinity, that
is, God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Ghost. They believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. The Christians worship God in the churches. Also,
some people believe Allah is the Supreme power. These people are Muslims, who
believe in Prophet Mohammed. The Muslims worship in the mosques.
African religion is the religion
of our forebears or forefathers. It is a religion that takes into account the
custom, tradition and cultural environment of African peoples. It is a religion
that is truly our own.
Tade maintained that both
Christianity and Islam no doubt are imported religious and hence cannot
comprehensively satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of African peoples.
African religion contains all the ingredients that Christianity and Islam profess.
For instance, African religion have believe in Belief in God, Belief in
Divinities, Belief in Spirits,
He noted that traditional
religion has suffered neglects over the years in this country due to misunderstanding
and ignorance.
“In unity, we lose nothing; we
gain many things including the welfare of our entire people. But in division we
lose many things and gain nothing. Success cannot be measure by wealth or
popularity. For a man has succeeded when he enjoyed living and when he finds
the world good and leaves it better. Without true reconciliation in traditional
religion, we will not have true peace, not in our different place of birth or
in our nation or region.
“It is therefore the
responsibility of all traditionalists to join hands together and make sure that
our heritage is preserved, sustained and maintained as a unique cultural
identity, the time has come to change our orientation and attitude towards what
is authentically ours. We must learn to understand the application of our
traditional being to our modern essence. Our traditional rulers must also be
encouraged to project the values and essence of tradition even in the face of
today’s religion and modern incursion, People are lost when the values of their
cultural heritage are disregarded. All traditional religion should come
together and have a general body that will be representing and speaking on
behalf of our traditional heritage in our country. In the last 55 years of
Nigeria as a Nation, the country had gone through religious bigotry,
socio-political and economic turbulence. Despite that, today the country is
still standing as one indivisible nation. At this era of the 55 years
independence of our dear country, we at ROSEP pray for peace stability and
unity among Nigerians and there is need for traditionalist to uphold the spirit
of friendship and unity. It is time to begin to appreciate ourselves, to
identify our roots and handle it with pride the time has come to change our
orientation and attitude towards what is authentically ours,” he added.
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