YEWANDE AMUSAN, former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism but now Senior Consultant to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State on Culture and Tourism. Her two-time tenure in Ogun State has changed the face of Culture and Tourism in the State, working tirelessly on Adire’s uplift as international brand originating from Ogun State. She facilitated various interventions and exchange programme for Adire, tie and dye local fabric makers in the State in last eight. Now, Governor Amosun has initiated an international Fashion Parade involving usage of Adire and construction of Adire Mall at Ancient Itoku Market in Abeokuta which was inaugurated on Friday to mark the 4th African Drums Festival. YEWANDE AMUSAN in this interview with RAZAQ AYINLA, Southwest Bureau Chief, spoke on different initiatives and interventions made so far to change the face of Arts, Culture and Tourism in the State.
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Records have shown that Ogun state government, especially Ibikunle Amosun-led administration, has contributed in no small measure to the development of Adire, tie and dye fabric locally produced by people of Abeokuta, and lately, the government mulled the idea of putting Seal on Adire to make it an international brand, what informed this and what do you want to gain in the long run?
The Adire Seal came on based on feedback from various quarters. As you know His Excellency (Governor Ibikunle Amosun) over the period of his administration, has supported Adire and the use of Adire as you can see, we all wear, we have gone to many countries, promoting Adire originating from Ogun state. One of the things we want to do in terms of owning Adire produced from Ogun state which is part of our culture and our heritage from our forefathers, really designers of Adire in Ogun state have been well known for the craft and it’s something that people have handed over from one generation to another. It’s part of our culture, so, it is important own it and ensure that we preserve the trade and craft and of course, utilise it in various forms. What people have been saying in the past was that there was no rule by which people produced it and they didn’t know the quality of Adire being produced, as a way to bring us into the situation where the producers are able to sell the wares or assure buyers of some level of standard, we needed to authenticate or put a process in place to authenticate the quality or the type of fabric produced here.
The first thing that His Excellency did was for us to register the brand name – Adire Ogun which clearly speaks for itself. In that it is Adire that is made in Ogun. Also, it gives the buyers some level of assurance that this will give a standard, just like we have Irish Linen, Egyptian Cotton and all other types of branded items, we have decided that Adire Ogun is something that will assist our people in ensuring that we have a certain standard introduced. Now forms this standard, it does not preclude certain conditions that people have to meet, part of it is that for Adire to be produced here you have to belong to an Association, I believe, that will be done with the Association because the Adire producers have their own Association – it is a very established Association. So, we work with them to come up with parameters in which this can be done and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will be part of this process whereby just like you have Hoteliers registering, so, through the Association, the Adire producers would be able to register and be able to use the Seal, that is the process, it doesn’t stop anybody else from doing what they are doing but if you want to have some kind of premium brand that we are producing, you will see the value in having the authority to be able to use the Seal and as time goes on it can be further developed by both the producers and through the Ministry, we will be able to work together and ensure that we are positioned properly.
Now, having a formed organization, it gives us an opportunity to also tap into various resources that ordinarily individuals would not have been able to access. So, it was very well received by the Iyalojas (market women) and as you can see, we have done a lot of things together. His Excellency like I said, has always been supported to the level that we have gone to different countries of the world with the Adire makers themselves, from market we chose them randomly from those that were recommended from the Association themselves. This has been a process that has been in place over a period of time, we have been to London, Vietnam, Paris, New York, we also partnered with an International designer – MAKI OH, we went to New York Fashion Week with her (MAKI OH) and you could see Adire makers themselves working with her to come up with some of the designs that we showcased last year.
No doubt, many people believe that Adire as an African fabric which was crudely produced and here, you are talking about premium brand and adding value. What has changed from the crude production to the refined production of Adire?
I will revalidate the word produced crudely. For me, that is not a valid description, it has been made by hand, when they make it by hand, it is part of the process, it is part of the beauty, it is part of the customization, it is not something to be discarded. I think and we feel that, that was process which our ancestors – our great grand mothers and fathers – used and it gives more beauty to Afire itself. Our people have also seen by going to other countries that there are certain things they can improve on. Noe you can produce 300 pieces of Adire in less time depending on what you want unlike before. People have introduced more methodologies that are more efficient not just in terms of the quantity, but also in terms of quality and beauty. The beauty of it is that it has just gone beyond what you wear, you now see it as patterns on the walls, you see it on lamps, you can see it on bags, you see it in different forms. I can boldly say that His Excellency, in all honesty, within the last eight years, has made a major difference. I usually say that when peoe decide to copy your works, it shows acceptability. It is something that has taken many forms. I remember when we first came in 2011, not many of us were using Adire, we saw Adire as traditional outfit, but now you see it on lace, you see it on chiffon, you can use it for various things.
Adire fabric producers, marketers and all other people working in that industry will surely require loans, empowerment and other interventions from government, what has your government done in that regard?
This is an empowerment at different levels, even right now, we have done another empowerment as well with the Adire people where they have identified a certain number among themselves at the level of Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs). Some of them are now getting funds to increase their capacities to produce more. So, working with the Association has been a mutual benefit. We have given all their members credit facilities through partnership arrangement with the Bank of Industry (BoI).
The State government is also planning to inaugurate Adire Mall that provides a cluster for Adire producers and sellers at the Ancient Itoku market in Abeokuta, it is part of empowerment programme of this government?
For the first time, somebody is giving the Adire fabric producers and sellers mall to project what they are doing, to give them the opportunity to cluster, to buy the mall shops for themselves and it is available at a discounted payment for Adire fabric makers through their Association as well, and everybody that sells in Itoku market for instance belongs to the Association.
BusinessDay understands that Ogun state will feature first ever Adire Fashion Parade at the 2019 African Drums Festival to be held in Abeokuta this week, what is the correlation between Adire and Fashion Parade?
You have to wait to see. Adire is fabric, isn’t it? And we are doing a Fashion Parade that has to do with Adire.
It is a fact that you have been in this government in the last eight years, first as Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and now as Senior Consultant to Governor on Culture and Tourism, what have you achieved, what have you done differently?
My tenure with second administration now, I have done sever things, though we complement ourselves in the Ministry, the former Commissioner also did his bit, but I was able to work on Fela Kuti’s residence in Abeokuta and other houses that our icons were born in, lived in as a way of preserving our culture, heritage and our history because this is fabric, this is what defined us, there were many other things that I would have loved to do, one of the things that I achieved is the Executive Order that I was able to put in place to guide the policy of museums and monuments in the State, that is also a very critical part. The idea is to sow a seed and to give direction that the next set of people coming in can at least take it from there and implement or expand on it and get a proper guidance, Kuti’s House, like you mentioned, Hubert Ogunde’s House, Ayinla Omowura’s House, among others, we are making effort to preserve them all and I was involved in, but most importantly, Adire, I have worked tirelessly in projecting Adire that can be used and compared to any fabrics in the world. I also live it because I wear it, His Excellency (Governor Ibikunle Amosun) lives it and wears it. A lot of State Executive members and Civil Servants as well, live it and wear it, a lot of us are now looking at Adire differently and that has culminated into Adire Ogun Seal that you are seeing today.
One of the major cultural legacies which this administration will leave behind is the African Drums Festival which metamorphosed from Nigerian Drums Festival when it established in 2016, what are you doing to ensure continuity beyond 2019?
If you look at how His Excellency has done many things in this State, you will have to hand it to him, that is somebody with vision because when the Festival started as Nigerian Drums Festival, he looked at it and said, “it is bigger than Nigeria, we need to reach out to many people”, that was how it became African Drums Festival. So, over they year, it has actually continued to improve and expand each outing, the idea is that it has served as fulcrum and there has been participation of private sector, so, it has become more driven by private sector than public sector. Really, by next year and years to come, it’s logical that this can’t die even if there is a change of government, I don’t see it due because everybody wants a continuity. I believe a stage has been set and it will likely continue because it benefits everybody and not just about Abeokuta or Ogun state alone, it is now international, each year the number of countries grow and I see no reason why it can’t continue.
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