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| Hon Kayode Akinmade |
Why Mare Festival is Unique- Information Commissioner
Hon Kayode Akinmade is the chief information officer of Ondo state, in his interview with Alarinka Agbaye crew he spoke extensively on what Mare Festival is all about and the economic benefit of the festival to the people of Idanre and Ondo state entirely. Excerpt
Tell us about Mare
festival
The uniqueness of
this mare festival is the celebration of the historic mountains and rock, this
mountain have a historical value and that is why the government have decided to
have a day in the calendar to
celebrate Mare day because it is very
unusual to see an assemblage of rocks and mountain in a very orderly manner
like they are in Idanre, it shows that Idanre is a tourist centre, some people
go to Spain some people go to South Africa
as mountaineers the mountains
there are not as beautiful, as magnificent or as assembled like the one
we have here, and now we decided to have this festival to celebrate our
culture, Mare is not about mountain, it is about Yoruba Culture, Ondo state culture, celebrating our culture ,
we are men of strength and vigour and that is why during this celebration you
will see people joining the marathon to
run from state capital to Idanre town its
about i6k killometer, it
strengthen human strength also it bring people from all walks of life to
come and celebrate nature at its best, if you enter this town you will be marvel at the way God organize
this mountain it is awesome
What does the people of Idanre and the state government
stand to benefit
This is the fourth
edition of mare, the essence is to attract investors to the state tourist to the state, when tourist tour a
particular state it boost the economy, people in all sector will benefited, the hotelier will have patronage,
in term of the economic activities the informal sector they will be able to
benefit from this and we are also
looking at a way to crate partnership with some national and international
organization to come and celebrate this particular important festival
How many
foreign participant are you
expecting this year.
We are expecting close to about 50, as i am talking to you
ten or fifteen of them have arrived and
i am sure by tomorrow more will arrive, and it is not also
about foreign mountaineers alone, we are
also encouraging our people here to come
and compete and contest because we will
love the situation where by prizes are been won by indigene of the state or
even by Nigerians the essence is to
promote this culture , there are some people during Holiday in Europe they travel far and wide to come and behold nature at its
best i believe that anybody in Nigeria ,
anybody in the world that want to enjoy
and want to relax will find this place very good for relaxation.
What are the prizes available for different category
The first prize is between 7 and
5000 dollars , 2nd is 4000,
dollars and 3rd will get 3000 dollars and
there are som many other consolatory prizes for people to win and there are some game within this festival where people will win
