Dr Okoronkwo presents 3rd Inaugural lecture with the theme " Value of Festivals"

By: Ebere Osuka 

***

It was a joyous and excitement moment as a renowned Estate Surveyor and Valuer, Department  of Estate Management and Valuation Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri, Dr Chikezie Okoronkwo presented the 3rd Inaugural lecture series with the topic "Values of  Festivals" in grand style.

Presenting the lecture, Dr Okoronkwo who is a scholar of distinction, an accomplished Estate Surveyor and Valuer defined festival as an expression of oneness of body and soul in the manifestation of love and understanding as a being without bias or dichotomy, an organized activity by a people to exhibit their oneness in commemoration of their identity and regard for their ancestry adding, that festival could be cultural, social or even in any other genre but must express some form of artistic expression  of food, music and tradition.

The lecturer further noted, that festivals are celebrated at certain times of the year and may have done bearings with agriculture, religion or other notable happenings with which the celebrants are known for or recognized and that festivals are intrinsic aspects of culture of a people and play vital roles in enhancing oneness and brotherhood, a journey of solidarity in the establishment of the ethos that bind a group or community to a set of ideas that only members can align with.

The seasoned administrator however, mentioned different types of festivals which includes: book festival, photo festival, music festival as well as game festival  while  religious/cultural festivals comprises: Ojude oba festival (Yoruba), Navarafri festival (India), Ikeji festival (Arochukwu), 

Still speaking, he emphasized that value varies in time, circumstance and use and indeed, has no permanence, in consequence of the fact that there is no meaning nor concept of value, it becomes absolutely necessary to understand various factors that create value as well as the forces which affect value and in concepts of value, it is worth and for a commodity  to be valuable, it must have worth and the factors are the things which must happen for value to come into existence which may as well be regarded as forces and not merely factors because they propel the formation as well as the sustenance of value 

He reiterated, that festivals derived from the culture and traditions of people who own and propagate them and for whom they represent intrinsic values  also, festival usually have dual or even tripod dimensions and may be enjoined in any form be it physical, virtual or spiritual.

Also, according to Uchendu (1988), they are more than the expression or a historical past and more than an expression of a man's mode of living, something that individuals in each society must undergo as a kind of fate or a right of passage adding, that in Nigeria, many festivals have been recognized including Sango festival Oyo, Kano Durba Festival, Oral Heritage Gelede, Ifa divination festival, Ijelev masquerade, Argungu festival, Kwagh- Hir theatrical performance among others while nationally, Ikeji festival is recognized by the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation.

The lecturer thereby, concluded that the value of festivals have been found to be a function of the world view or philosophy of the people who are owners of the festivals and whose purpose the festival series ; the costume representing an array of beautifications or otherwise of the festival including the medium upon which it was produced and crafted; the traffic that the festival could draw as well as the influence of the festival on the society.

Earlier in her address, the Rector Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri Dr Basilia  Igbokwe commended the inaugural lecturer Dr Okoronkwo for doing justice to the topic describing the event as the revival of a cherished academic tradition that defines the intellectual soul of any tertiary institution stressing, that inaugural lecture is not just a speech but a scholarly public covenant with  knowledge and also, a declaration of his academic journey