Ile-Oluji, a serene town in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo Local Government Area of Ondo State celebrated Owe Festival, an annual traditional rite that signifies the commencement of the eating of new yam by residents of the community.
The Owe Festival usually precedes another significant traditional rite, the Ogun Festival, which normally draws indigenes from within and outside the shores of the country.
Expressing his delight at witnessing this year's festival to Nigerian Tribune, an indigene of the community, Akinfesola Akinyonu, told Community News that the Owe Festival is significant to the people of the community because it is the festival that gives the people the right to eat new yam every year.
"It is sacrilegious for any indigene or even residents of the community to eat the new yam before the festival is held, and that is why it is a festival that people in the community always look forward to," he stated.
However, besides the participation of residents in the annual festival, the UK-based Akinyonu would also want the festival branded so as to attract the attention of Corporate Nigeria.
"A lot of corporate bodies and brands are looking for festivals like this to key into so as to enhance the equity of their brands and further bond themselves with their consumers. Nothing stops us from looking at the business side of the festival by talking to these people," he stated.
For Johnson Adeyemi, a resident of the community, it is an event that reminds residents of the community that a more elaborate traditional festival, the Ogun Festival, is around the corner.
"Once the Owe Festival is held, we know that the Ogun Festival that usually attracts a bigger audience from the town and outside the town is about 15 days away.
'What is significant about this one is that it is the first time the community will be celebrating without an oba, you know the monarch passed on a few months ago," he stated.