By Victor Adeoti, NAN
Its Status among top festivals in the country, even globally, is unique, incontrovertible while its presence is useful to the socio-economic activities of its environs.
The Osun Osogbo festival, believed to have existed more than 400 years ago, holds the sway then so much so that the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recognised it as World Heritage Site in 2005.
Occupying a stretch of land on Osun river banks outside the state capital — Osogbo — the grove of the festival has witnessed a lot of activities during the annual festivals of the river, usually during the last week of every August, attracting various tourists from across the world.
It is a traditional ethnic festival in the south western part of the country held to honour the river goddess of Osun.
For its sacredness, fishing, farming and hunting are forbidden in the grove and its environs, giving opportunity for rare species of antelopes, monkeys and other exotic animals to be seen swaggering around the grove.
To showcase its uniqueness, the grove has over 40 shrines, sculptures and artworks that represent the Yoruba gods, many of them created since the 1950s by the late Austrian artist Susanne Wenger, who devoted her life to restoring and protecting the grove.
Osun is regarded as one in the pantheon of Yoruba gods; its grove is also regarded as the abode of fertility.
The landscape of the grove and its meandering river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines, sculptures and art works in honour of Osun and other deities.
With all these attributes, tourists, note that the grove is no longer receiving the necessary attention, especially from the state government and other relevant stakeholders, making it to be gradually losing its values.
According to them, the dilapidated road leading to the grove has been a major setback for tourists and devotees, who visit the place from time to time.
Another major concern raised by tourism experts is the pollution of the Osun-Osogbo river due to the activities of illegal gold miners in some parts of the state.
The river is said to contain heavy metal and cyanide which has changed its colour.
An independent investigation conducted in the river by a non-governmental organisation, Urban Alert, sometimes ago, revealed that the river is heavily contaminated with mercury, lead, cyanide, and other injurious element.
Anthony Adejuwon, the team lead of the organisation, while presenting the report of an investigation conducted by his group, said scientific examinations revealed that the river was polluted by the activities of gold miners in some parts of the state.
However, It has been the practice among Osun adherents, who usually come from all parts of the country and beyond, during the festival to scoop water from the river into containers of varying sizes and use the water for spiritual activities, that may include drinking, using it to prepare food or herbal concoctions.
Medical experts say that devotees, local and foreign tourists making use of the river are exposed to cancer and other deadly ailments such as brain and kidney failure, hearing loss, growth retardation, anaemia, impaired vision, paralysis and death.
Speaking on the development, Dr Oluseyi Atanda, President, Traditional Religious Worshippers Association in Osun, said that the pollution of the Osun river was unfortunate.
Atanda, an Ifa priest and a consultant obstetrician at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, said that although the state government had been able to regulate mining activities, it would take a while before the river can be rid of pollutants.
“Unfortunately, the pollution had already been done and it is going to be a while before the river can be rid of pollutants.
“Except the government is going to address it in a way whereby that water can be purified, which is quite challenging.
“I cannot imagine what volume of water the government will have to employ to dilute the existing river and wash it clean.
“But if the government can maintain that mining activities are regulated and artisan miners are made compulsorily to mine the proper way and create industrial sieves to sieve out the mining waste products.
“Over time, the impurities in the water will thin out, but certainly, it will take a number of years before that can be achieved.
“It is an unfortunate thing, but the best is to please make sure that artisan miners do not go back to their old ways’’ he said.
Atanda, however, said that the government had done well by renovating and refurbishing faded statutes and sculptures in the grove.
“I think in fairness to the government, it has done well to maintain and improve the sacredness of the grove and improve the tourism potential of the grove.
“Evidently, the government has tried to improve the outlook of the statues’’, he said.
Atanda said that foreign tourists as well as believers in the potency of Osun river still visit the grove before, during and after the annual Osun-Osogbo festival.
“There is no day I go to the grove for spiritual work that I do not come across somebody who has also come from outside’’, he said.
Sharing similar sentiment, Mr Abiodun Ojo, the Commissioner for Tourism and Culture in Osun, said that the state government “is working round the clock to purify the coloured Osun river.
“This necessary to avoid any health complications by worshippers and visitors who drink from the river water’’.
The commissioner said that government would consider alternative routes that will make both vehicular and pedestrian movements easier.
Ojo, who notes that the road leading to the groove does not befit the status of the UNESCO heritage site, says the government will do everything possible to beautify the groove through good roads to meet UNESCO standards.
He believes that toilets, bathrooms, and other buildings facilities have been constructed inside the groove to meet most of the challenges faced by worshippers and visitors.
According to him, the maintenance officers at the site have been keeping the groove safe and secure for tourists and visitors.
“We ensure that maintenance officers kept facilities inside the groove tidy and secure, especially the natural vegetation.
“The sculptures at the groove are also kept in good condition as they depict our cultural values and traditions to the outside world’’, he said.
Also, Mr Aworeni Joseph, Curator, National Commission for Museum and Monuments (NCMM) and the grove site manager, insists that fund to take proper care of the grove is another major challenge.
Joseph said that major stakeholders of the grove, the traditional custodian and the Federal Government represented by NCMM and the state government have a lot to do.
He, however, said that the state government is the major stakeholder and that they have the major responsibility to tackle any challenge that might come up in taking care of the grove.
“Each of the stakeholders has responsibilities towards the maintenance of the grove, whenever we have challenges; we call on the stakeholders that the issue falls within its purview to come to our aid.
“This site is the second world heritage site in the country and the value of this site is very important to us.
“That is why we don’t want the site to lose its value because if the grove loses its value, UNESCO will delist It’’, he said.
Joseph said that the last maintenance that was done in the grove was in June 2023, noting that since its enlistment, “the grove is being monitored by UNESCO and that the organisation has also been helping the Federal Government in the preservation of the site.
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“Although UNESCO don’t give money for the preservation or maintenance of the site, they help in terms of technical advice, capacity building (organising training and workshops) and help us to get grants from research organisations or institutions.’’
He stated that the grove covers 122 hectares of land, consisting of the core and buffer zones, observing that the large space of the grove is making it to be difficult to maintain.
Joseph, however, said that in spite of these challenges, devotees and researchers, as well tourists visit the grove all year round.
The grove manager also says the road within the grove needs rehabilitation and be closed to preserve the sacredness of the grove.
Also, a wood carver around the grove, Sunday Olugbenle, explained that patronage of his business had reduced over the years, except during the annual festival of Osun.
He attributed the low turnout of tourists to the grove to insecurity in the country.
“Foreign tourists visiting the Osun-grove have reduced over the years. I believe it is due to the kidnapping and insecurity in the country.
“As a wood carver, I get much patronage from tourists who are amazed by our wood works, but in recent years, we have not been seeing them, except on Osun-Osogbo day.
“Even on the Osun-Osogbo day, the tourist guides determines what they (tourists) buy but Osun goddess devotees often frequent the grove’’, he said.
Tourism experts, nonetheless, insist that relevant stakeholders, especially, the state government must rise up to their responsibilities of maintaining the grove before it loses its glory as the UNESCO second world heritage site. (NANFeatures)