Benin City- The rich culture and dexterity of Oza people in Orhiomwon Local government area of Edo state will again be on display and celebrated next week as the annual Oza carnival has been fixed to hold
between December 28 and 31.

The initiator and sponsor of the Carnival Hon. Festus Osagie Osaigbovo announced the readiness of the community to celebrate this years carnival on Tuesday during a press conference in the agrarian region of Edo state,calling on all sons and daughters of Oza to participate in the carnival.

According to the organisers, activities lined up for the 2nd Edition of Oza Carnival include Carnival Procession which is designed to be the curtain raiser for the events and Cultural Display. Other activities include
Football matches, Music Concert, Fashion Exhibition, Traditional Wrestling, Public Lectures, Comedy, Prayer Conference as well as Awards for deserving indegens.

Highlighting the inherent benefits of the Oza carnival, Hon Osaigbovo said that Oza carnival will help to reduce rural-urban migration and as well boost agricultural production in the state.

He urged the people to embrace the Oza carnival and take advantage of it and improve on their trade so as to remain self sufficient in food security among other societal needs.

Hon. Osaigbovo recalled that the first edition of the carnival which held last year had over five thousand persons in attendance and positively impacted on the economy of the community and the state at large.

Hon Osaigbovo said:”This 2nd edition of the carnival, featuring sports, farm produce exhibition, beauty pageant is to enable the youths to discover their talents and become more useful to themselves and the society.

“This Oza Carnival is an annual event we are projecting beyond ourselves and present generation. We want the younger ones to come and take it over.

“We are trying to encourage the youths to be very useful. Like in the football, there is a lot the youth can do and they can also participate in cultural display, food and crops exhibition and beauty pageant etc. ”

Osaigbovo recalled that before now, there were a lot of dilapidated buildings in the community but for the sake of the yearly carnival,sons and daughters of the community abroad have taken it upon themselves to come home to renovate old buildings and also build new ones. Some have now invested in hospitality business in the area to accommodate tourists.

Hon Osaigbovo added that Oza community has vast and fertile land agriculture that can take care of the nation’s food challenges.

“We have a vast land for any kinds of investments, you want to start mechanized farming, we have vast land for you”, he said.