By Ralph Agbana.
Once a year, Okeagi Community in Mopamuro Local Government Area, Kogi State holds Okeagi Day. Sons and daughters of Okeagi set aside every last Saturday of the month of July to celebrate themselves and their cultures as well as deliberate on the progress, development and socioeconomic challenges of the community.
Also called New Yam festival, Okeagi Day is organized by the Okeagi Progressive Union (OPU), the umbrella association of all Okeagi indigenes home and abroad “with the aim and objectives of celebrating ourselves and culture. It is also an avenue to dialogue and plan towards the development of the land. The occasion also heralds the begining of new yam in the community”.
And this year’s edition held on July 29 was not different as indigenes joined by friends and well wishers from all walks of life stormed Okeagi town and donated generously towards infrastructure development plans outlined over the years.
Amidst pomp and pageantry, the business of the day was encapsulated in the opening address of the monarch, the Danayangun of Okeagi, His Royal Highness, Oba Isaac Abayomi Ogunkolu.
Oba Ogunkolu welcomed invited guests and sons and daughters of the land to the annual celebration. He thanked God for making it possible to see yet another year/ celebration. He thanked the OPU and the organizing committee for a well organized programme. He used the occasion to appeal to Government at all levels, individuals, philanthropists and the invited guests to come to the aid of the community. He listed areas of needs to include but not limited to the following: rehabilitation of the bad community electrification, community staffing, provision of infrastructure in the community secondary school school, provision of solar panels, construction of the community road, provision of more motorized bore holes and the on going construction of the community Town Hall.
HRH, Oba Ogunkolu appreciated the member of the House of Representatives for Yagba Federal Constituency, Hon Leke Abejide for the Mopa to Imela Road and like the proverbial Oliver twist, he solicited for the complete laying of asphalt as a permanent solution to the road.
He admonished Okeagi youths to remain industrious including engaging in farming while shunning all forms of vices or criminal acts that can be inimical to their progress.
Speaking with reporters at the ceremony, Secretary of OPU, Mr Moses Babatunde, on behalf of Okeagi community further appealed to Kogi State Government to take over the Local Government Secondary School as the LG could no longer perform its role in the aspects of the infrastructure and staff needs of the school. He noted however that the school was built by the Community before the LG took over control.
“For over eight years, the community has been responsible for the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) teachers as only three teachers were deployed by the government, including the principal”, he said.
The event, tagged “Okeagi Day 2023/ N100m Community Development Fund and Conferment of Chieftaincy Titles” and themed “Harnessing the Benefits of Politics to Further the Course of Socio-Cultural and Infrastructural Development of Okeagi”, was well attended.
Highlights of the ceremony included the fundraiser with millions of Naira realized and the decoration of Dr Yomi Charles Olorunshola, a.k.a Yomite, who doubled as the Chief Launcher, as Mayegun of Okeagi.
