A culture promoter, Mr Temitope Babayemi, has urged Nigerians to guard the nation’s culture and tradition jealously for a meaningful and sustainable development
Babayemi, the Coordinator of Artistes’ Village, Iganmu, Lagos, said that the protection had become necessary to keep Nigeria’s history intact.
“I will love to see governments at local, state and federal levels utilising our culture as a springboard and catalyst for meaningful and sustainable development.
“ Having been involved in culture promotion all my active life, my advice to Nigerians is to take who they are more serious.
“That means holding the traditional, political and economic leadership accountable for representing and promoting the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians,” the sexagenarian told NAN.
According to him, culture is sometimes misunderstood to be tradition.
The sexagenarian said that while tradition was a way of life, culture was the way man should be formed.
“Tradition, therefore, informs culture, which itself is dynamic, always changing in a flux,” he said.
He said that policymakers should tackle the challenge of striking a balance between tradition and innovation.
“Huge chunks of our population – children, youths, women, men, elderly, physically and mentally disabled are presently culturally deprived,” he said.
On crime, Babayemi described lack of employment and recreation as major causes of increase in crime by the youth.
“You can also see that we have a problem with social cohesion in a fast moving, ever-changing digital world where identities are converging.
“The new world is a world of multiple identities. You can have the identities of a villager, a city dweller and a global citizen, all in one person,” he said.
He urged policymakers to navigate through the tendency of convergence to evolve a vibrant, resilient and welcoming national culture.
