By Kayode Akinyemi
Onitsha, a metropolis steeped in heritage and Eastern Nigeria’s industrial nerve centre, was final week the centre stage of each nationwide and world cultural renaissance and heritage because it hosted the world for the 2026 Ofala Festival, hallmarked by the Iru Ofala and Azu Ofala.
The Ofala Festival is a historic annual ceremony of renewal celebrated by the Igbo folks of Onitsha. The excessive level of the week-long celebrations was the look of the Obi in full royal regalia, with the red-cap chiefs (Ndichie), titleholders, and age-grades’ procession via the area to pay homage and pledge allegiance to the king.
In the trendy period, the conventional ceremonies are complemented by modern occasions like artwork exhibitions, youth carnivals, lectures, and group medical outreach packages. These additions give the competition trendy flavours in addition to accommodating newly rising traditions and providers which enrich and improve communal residing in the historic kingdom.
By pure serendipity, the 2026 version of the Globacom sponsored competition coincided with the twenty fifth anniversary of the reign of Agbogidi, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe. The 2026 competition was, subsequently, a double cultural occasion in the historic metropolis. Globacom’s partnership with the Onitsha Traditional Council has not solely elevated the metropolis’s rating as a centre of cultural excellence and vibrancy, it has additionally introduced financial good points to the folks in substantial quantum.
Nigeria’s telecommunications big, Globacom, has been the principal sponsor of the competition for 15 unbroken years in furtherance of its dedication to cultural preservation and revival. The occasion presents the cultural face of Onitsha, distinguishing it from the acquainted and on a regular basis pulsating rhythm of a vibrant centre of commerce and commerce.
The 2026 competition was themed “Igba Mbo, Iga N’Iru – Strive and Advance. From Resilience to Progress.” The theme captured the spirit of Ndi Onicha, whose historical past is outlined by resilience, enterprise, adaptation and willpower to advance.
Providing rationale for its continued affiliation with the metropolis and sponsorship of the Ofala Festival, Globacom stated the determination was in tandem with the philosophy that locations tradition alongside connectivity as devices of nationwide improvement. As a matter of reality, the firm sees the competition as way over an annual cultural celebration. It’s a residing expression of identification, continuity and collective aspiration.
The sustained partnership additionally underscores the telecom big’s perception that preserving heritage and advancing society aren’t competing imperatives however are mutually reinforcing pillars of a progressive nation. This is the spirit of Globacom’s “Never Settle for Less”: to honour what is worthy, whereas frequently striving for one thing higher.
Ofala Festival, in its current format, is not solely a sacred ceremony of royal renewal, it has progressively developed right into a platform for cultural affirmation, group engagement and collective progress. As a lover of improvement, Globacom, via the sponsorship, serves as a catalyst for each social, cultural and financial improvement in Onitsha Kingdom. The sponsorship is additionally an expression of sensible company citizenship and cultural stewardship—an funding in the reminiscence, that means and continuity of a folks.
Significantly, the Chairman of Globacom, Otunba (Dr.) Mike Adenuga Jr., in a private letter to Igwe Achebe, paid a glowing tribute to the Obi on the event of the 2026 version of the Ofala Festival. He recommended the revered monarch’s knowledge, dignity and exemplary management with which he had presided over the affairs of his folks over the years. In explicit, Otunba Adenuga extolled Igwe Achebe’s exceptional potential to protect the cherished traditions of the previous whereas embracing the aspirations and alternatives of the trendy age, noting that such a management fashion had continued to reinforce the status of the Onitsha Kingdom and earn it deserved recognition far past its borders.
The Globacom boss expressed delight that via Globacom’s affiliation with the Ofala Festival, the firm has been privileged to make its modest contributions to the preservation, celebration and wider projection of the priceless cultural heritage, stating his satisfaction and pleasure to hitch the folks of Onitsha and the Igwe annually in showcasing to Nigeria, Africa and the wider world the magnificence, dignity and enduring values represented by Ofala.
In a foreword to the ebook written to mark the event, Igwe Achebe recommended Globacom for protecting the Ofala heritage alive via the sponsorship deal. Specifically, he stated the transformation of Ofala Festival from a palace ritual to a world-renowned cultural competition owed an amazing deal to purposeful partnership with Globacom, stating that since 2011, the telecom firm had stood together with his kingdom as its principal associate, a interval of 15 lengthy years of unwavering dedication.
The monarch famous that what started as a deeply sacred royal obligation had, beneath the folks’s collective custodianship, grown right into a competition of nationwide and world significance with out shedding its religious core, as a heritage asset for identification, unity, tourism, youth enterprise, and group ritual. He stated as a substitute, what has developed is the competition’s energy to talk to modern Nigerian wellbeing.
As Igwe Achebe presided over the week-long occasion, the Globacom Chairman prayed for ample knowledge, energy and glorious well being for him, and wished him many extra fulfilling years of distinguished service to his folks and Nigeria. Above all, he prayed for continued peace, progress and prosperity all through the Onitsha Kingdom beneath His Majesty’s revered management.
Globacom recognises that preserving custom safeguards the mental and religious structure upon which the future is constructed. Its affiliation with the sponsorship and promotion of main festivals, together with Ofala, is rooted in a broader aspiration: to harness the transformative energy of connectivity to bridge generations and cultures, whereas serving to Nigeria’s heritage to achieve wider audiences at house and throughout the world.
Through the sponsorship, Globacom has elevated the competition right into a globally acknowledged cultural occasion, attracting vacationers, dignitaries, cultural fans, traders, and media consideration from totally different components of Nigeria and past. The firm’s involvement has helped challenge the wealthy cultural heritage of Onitsha to the worldwide group whereas strengthening native participation and pleasure.
Crucially, the financial influence of the competition can’t be overstated. The occasion creates a quantum leap in native tourism and socio-economic actions. During the competition interval, lodges expertise huge occupancy, transport operators report elevated patronage, eating places and meals distributors get pleasure from booming gross sales, whereas merchants and artisans witness unprecedented industrial actions. Fashion designers, make-up artists, occasion planners, decorators, entertainers, and native craftsmen additionally profit immensely from the inflow of guests and spending related to the celebration.
Indeed, the Ofala Festival has developed into an financial ecosystem that stimulates native enterprise and group prosperity. It gives non permanent employment alternatives for the youth inhabitants and enhances the visibility of native companies. Such financial stimulation underscores the strategic significance of cultural festivals as drivers of grassroots improvement and sustainable native economies.
The 2026 Ofala theme, ‘From Resilience to Progress’, shared that means and kind with the Globacom philosophy. The correlation is apparent in the spirit of resilience, reinvention and ahead motion of Ofala and Globacom’s progressive journey of connecting Nigerians and democratising entry to telecommunications.
Globacom is additionally the headline sponsor of the Ojude Oba Festival, an annual cultural fiesta of the Ijebus, showcasing tradition, at its finest. It has persistently sponsored the Ojude Oba Festival in the final 21 years as its personal contributions to cultural preservation and social continuity. The 2026 version was held in May this yr in honour of the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, the man who gave it the contact of modernity and its interesting options similar to the streamlining of the participation of the varied age teams, widening the participation loop to incorporate ladies and men age grades, introduction of horse experience, establishment of prizes, amongst others.
Underlying the significance of the cultural synergy and partnership between Globacom and promotion of tradition is the proven fact that such sponsorships proceed to function compelling proof that tradition is not a fading relic, however a residing drive succesful of advancing unity, tourism, financial development and social cohesion. In an period the place globalisation typically threatens indigenous identification, festivals remind us that any individuals who protect their tradition finally protect their future.
Globacom’s nationalistic fervor for the normal well-being and prosperity of Nigerians is the motive behind its ongoing nationwide marketing campaign themed “Never Settle for Less”, which is a philosophy of progress: improvement, and in search of to broaden prospects, deepen influence and transfer the nation ahead.
The Onitsha Ofala Festival serves as rites of renewal of the Obi and is much like the Igue competition in Benin and the Ine, Osi or Ogbanigbe festivals in lots of mid-West Igbo communities. The time period ofala, is derived from two Igbo phrases – (authority) and ala (land).
The competition might be traced again to the sixteenth Century when Onitsha folks emigrated from Benin to the japanese banks of the River Niger presently generally known as the metropolis of Onitsha and introduced with them amongst different customs, the custom of monarchy. Some historians additionally consider the competition is associated to the New Yam Festival in Onitsha and the devotion of the king to the security of his folks.
The competition marks the finish of a interval of retreat typically known as Inye Ukwu na Nlo when the Obi stays incommunicado and undergoes religious purification for the good of the group. At the finish of the week-long retreat, the Igwe emerges throughout the Ofala to bless his topics and say prayers for the group.
The Ofala Onitsha begins with a conventional twenty-one-gun salute adopted by an all-night Ufie (royal gong) drumming, dancing and different cultural actions. In the afternoon, the Obi’s cupboard of chiefs, friends from different communities, age teams, ladies and youth of the group normally throng the palace grounds or Ime Obi wearing conventional or ceremonial attires befitting the competition event. The royal music or Egwu Ota is performed throughout the entrance of the Ndichie or crimson cap chiefs who arrive after the gathering of the crowd and bringing alongside a couple of of their family and friends members their procession to the palace.
The spotlight of the competition is the emergence of the Obi in his royal regalia to the cheer of the crowd, a cannon shot declares the entrance of the Obi who is normally wearing ceremonial gown and carries a bronze sword on his hand, he walks to the sides of the area or a 3rd of the area acknowledging the cheers of the gathering. The Obi then retires and subsequently, the crimson cap chiefs pay homage to him based on seniority, thereafter each the Obi and the chiefs reappear after the firing of one other cannon shot.
During the second look the Obi dances in the area, one thing that is hardly ever seen and his steps cowl extra distance than the first look. Then the visiting chiefs and friends pay homage to the Obi. The competition is additionally typically an event for the Obi to honour people with chieftaincy titles.
•Akinyemi, a Fellow of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations writes from Lagos
