Oba Olufemi Ogunleye, the Towulade of Akinale in Ogun, on Thursday urged Nigerians to explore culture as a means of achieving national unity in 2020.
Ogunleye made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
According to him, the nation’s unity should be germane in everyone’s heart in 2020 and culture is a veritable tool that can be used to effect unity amongst different tribes considering the nation’s cultural diversity.
”Every Nigerian should be committed to promoting culture in 2020 with special interest in grooming indigenous languages, local dressing, arts, crafts, local cuisine and intangible aspects of culture.
“We appreciate God for the gift of life in spite of all odds. 2019 is running to an end and we need to look inwards as Nigerians to make life better by encouraging unity and peaceful co-existence.
“Unity can be achieved when we work within the confines of our culture. We must respect one another’s culture and further groom our individual culture for the younger ones to imbibe.
“We must, as a nation, focus on what unites us more than on those things that divide us.
”Our cultural diversity should be explored as our strength to move our dear nation forward,” the monarch said.
Ogunleye said that he would be glad to see people dress decently in 2020, saying that parents should encourage their wards to speak indigenous languages, upheld the culture of respect and eating local cuisines.
The monarch advised Nigerians to approach the new year seriously and stop lackadaisical attitude toward life.
He said that Nigeria and Nigerians, as a nation and individuals, must approach life seriously in the coming year; have well-laid out plans and visions for the year and work tirelessly to achieve them.
