Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi has called on government all levels to support initiatives that could guarantee gainful employment for the teeming youth populace and strengthen earnings of local business men.
The monarch, who spoke in his palace in Ile Ife, at the launch of this year’s edition of Aso Ofi festival holding in Iseyin, a town in Oyo state, said several vocations synonymous with the Yoruba race are big enough to provide employment for many people.
Going back memory lane, Ooni said: “Oduduwa was the first to discover cotton plant and transformed it to wool thread to make Aso Ofi in ancient Ife.
“He got the inspiration from spider cobwebs and grew large cotton plantation. The fittings of Aso Ofi was later perfected by the children of Ogun (1st blacksmith), Abere (needle)and Obe (knife).
“Olokun, who is also known as ‘Oluofi’ started the venture with loom thread weaving along with Segi beeds (remnants of the production site ws recently discovered in ife and scientific dating gave over 4000 years old).
“Their descendants migrated to settle in Iseyin and later to teach thier other descendants – Anu(Ethiopia) and Nubia (Sudan) all the way to present India (Orissa region now known as Odisha in India) and now all over the world.
“Iseyin people still practice Aso Ofi venture till date. If we don’t tell our stories by ourselves, nobody will?” Ooni queried.
In his remarks, Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba AbdulGaniyy Salawudeen, who led weavers from his town to Ife for the launch, while tracing history of Aso Ofi, said Olu Ofi, who is one of the founders of Iseyin, left Ile Ife several years earlier and settled in Iseyin town.
According to him, weaving business in Iseyin employs several people, owing to this, crime rate in the town has the very low.
He urged businessmen, cultural enthusiasts and promoters to key into the project and participate in the festival.
Bola Bamigbola, Osogbo
