Kunle Adelabu & Mariam Akinloye
The Igbogbo/Bayeku Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Ikorodu Division, Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, has perfected plans to make this festive season memorable for residents, especially the youths, by staging an all – night festival on the eve of the Christmas, till morning.
According to the organisers, the initiative, tagged, ‘Igbogbo Magical Festivista’, will be an annual event every December 24, and would also be used to promote indigenous talents and place Igbogbo on the global entertainment map.
The plans for the festivista, which is being organized and sponsored by the Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA under the administration of Builder Olusesan Daini, was unfolded at a press conference held at the Conference Room of the council secretariat in Igbogbo, on Saturday, December 23.
Scheduled to perform at the Magical Festivista, which will hold at Agarawu open space, are top artistes, DJs and Hypemen. Among these are Teefamous, Deepee Da’Dragon, Dj Annex, Seriki, DJ Rayce, Slum U, Ijebu Boy, Danny Boy, Fobaking, TySleek and Butiano, among others.
The organisers also said that artistes will be performing at the Magical Festivista on a standard stage with adequate lightening that can be found anywhere.
The Coordinator of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, and the Supervisory Councilor on Revenue, Comrade Abdul-Lateef Omotayo Odusanya, popularly called ‘TySleek’, while describing the initiative as wonderful and commending the Council boss for it, also enumerated the reasons for staging the concert.
He said that the council will be partnering with the NDLEA in sentising the youths on the danger of drugs during the concert.
“This is a wonderful initiative by the Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA. It is to add colours to the festive period and make youths in our community happy”, he said.
“Through the event, we are partnering with the NDLEA which will be sending some of their officers to sensitise the youths. The motive of bringing NDLEA into the event is to make the gathering educative, informative and a worthy experience.
“Through this partnership, some of the youths will have something positive to take home rather than just coming around to dance and enjoy alone”, he said.
Speaking on what the Council intends to achieve with the Igbogbo Magical Festivista, Odusanya said:
“The Chairman’s intention is to make the programme an annual one and indigenous. Through this medium, we are bringing what we used to have at the state level – One Lagos Fiesta (now Greater Lagos), closer to the people and also promoting indigenous talents”, he said.
“This would help most of the guys that usually move outside to showcase their talents, to have a platform to be heard. We have raw talents in abundance in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, and to project them to the world, we must be organizing entertainment initiative that is closer to them.
“Igbogbo Magical Festivista is also aimed at proving to people that Igbogbo/Bayeku is doing wonders regarding entertainment, and changing people’s perception about the council. Builder Olusesan is interested in whatever that will take Igbogbo youths outside and project the community to the world”.
He assured residents of Igbogbo, that they will be experiencing and enjoying everything that is obtainable at any concert anywhere.
“We have everything to compete with the urban areas and once the infrastructural development of the council is heightened, especially the two major roads construction that are ongoing, we will be competing favourably”, Comrade Odusanya said.
“That is why the Chairman has decided to give the residents the same entertainment show that they experience during the One Lagos Fiesta, or the one at the Bar Beach or what the people on the Island are enjoying, we are also going to enjoy it here in Igbogbo”.
Speaking earlier, Hon. Dauda Oshinlaja, Supervisory Councilor for Tourism, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, who is coordinating the planning committee for the Musical Festivista, speaking at the press conference, said that the council, through the initiative, intends to engage the youths productively during the festive season.
He commended the Council Chairman for the initiative.
“This will be the first of its kind in Ikorodu Division, and it is our own way of bringing youths together and engaging them productively in showcasing their talents instead of engaging in social vices”, he said.
“To achieve this, we are presenting the Igbogbo Magical Festivista during which invited superstars like Seriki, Teefamous, Deepee Da’Dragon, Dj Annex, DJ Rayce, Ijebu Boy, Danny Boy, Fobaking and TySleek, our superstar in Igbogbo, will be performing.
“Our Chairman in Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, Builder Sesan Daini, is doing fantastically well to make sure that our youths do not go astray via social vices.
“Through this event, the council wants to involve all the youths in Igbogbo, and it will hold till dawn”, he said.
Hon. Michael Ayeni, Supervisory Councilor for Agriculture, also speaking, said that everything that would make the youths enjoy the concert and the yuletide in ways and manner that would promote peaceful co – existence, has been put in place.
Also at the press conference were some of the artistes and Deejays slated to perform at the event, as well as representatives of Agarawu boys and other sections of the entertainment industry.
