The Second Deputy President of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Justina Ovat, has said Nigerian festivals risk losing their authenticity and long-term economic value if stakeholders fail to prioritise documentation, education, and cultural knowledge transfer.
Ovat spoke at the Naija7Wonders Zoom Conference 3.0, themed “Festivals and Tourism in Nigeria: A New Pathway,” where she advocated the integration of learning and development into festival management across the country.
Describing herself as “a teacher,” Ovat said many tourism discussions in Nigeria focus heavily on infrastructure, funding, marketing, and security, while ignoring the educational systems required to preserve festivals for future generations.
“The missing point is knowledge transfer,” she stated. “Festivals survive when knowledge survives.”
According to her, the absence of proper documentation and cultural education continues to create challenges for festival organisers, tourists, and local communities.
She cited controversies surrounding cultural practices at some festivals as examples of what happens when participants lack adequate cultural understanding.
“People attend festivals without understanding the significance of what they are seeing or participating in,” she explained.
Ovat said there was an urgent need to establish deliberate learning frameworks around festivals to ensure continuity, cultural preservation, and stronger community participation.
Drawing examples from Carnival Calabar, Ojude Oba Festival, and Osun Osogbo Festival, she stressed that tourism events should go beyond fanfare and become platforms for mentorship, cultural interpretation, volunteer training, and heritage education.
“There should be archives, repositories, and systems where organisers, tourists, researchers, and communities can access information about these festivals,” she said.
She warned that the continued failure to document indigenous knowledge could lead to loss of traditions, weak succession planning, declining visitor experiences, and reduced tourism revenues.
“What happens when the custodians of these traditions are gone? If there is no archive, no documentation, the younger generation will struggle to sustain the festivals,” she noted.
Ovat proposed the establishment of what she termed a “Festival Learning Ecosystem,” which would encourage cultural knowledge sharing, youth engagement, community ownership, tourism workforce training, and heritage preservation.
She also emphasised the importance of teaching local communities how to convert their cultural assets into economic opportunities.
“Many people in communities hosting tourism sites and festivals do not understand the economic value of what they have,” she said.
According to her, sustainable tourism growth depends not only on infrastructure but also on educating stakeholders within the tourism ecosystem.
“There is a need for deliberate tourism education for practitioners, professionals, communities, and tourists alike,” Ovat added.
She maintained that integrating education into festivals would create jobs, strengthen destinations, improve visitor satisfaction, and expand Nigeria’s tourism economy.
“Let us move beyond celebrations and turn festivals into classrooms of culture where everybody learns something,” she concluded.
