Kogi culture, tourism commissioner connects food to people's way of life »

As the world bask in the euphoria of impediment of Coronavirus Pandemic to this year’s celebration of World Day for Cultural Diversity, Kogi State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Hon Salifu Idachaba has described food as global carrier of people’s culture.

This view which appeared in his address, were anchored on Volume 18 of the Macropaedia Britannica which stressed that until the development of food is the oldest global carrier of culture.

The Commissioner noted that crops such as maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts were responsible for the agricultural revolution in Asia and Africa and recalled that Palm seedling was taken from Nigeria to Malaysia at one point.

He used the instance to stress that in travelling and interactions, there is the tendency to understand and appreciate different cultures from one’s own, adding that development takes place within and among Cultures by means of diffusion of advantageous cultural traits or acculturation among societies.

“These cultural features are inevitable components in all processes of perception, motivation, learning, integrated pattern and transmission. Culture is indeed, the engine room for education, socio-cconomic growth and development of nations,” he pointed out.

He described the decision of Governor Yahaya Bello to establish rice mills in the three senatorial districts of Kogi State as part of the determination to further enhance Kogi’s cultural potentials through agriculture.

The Commissioner therefore stressed that Kogi is a major producer of rice and other notable farm produce in the country and promoter of various cultural practices within and outside the state.

He therefore used the occasion to inform the public that Kogi State has, in collaboration with Stock & Minas Agricultural Aavocacy Network Africa (SMAANA) secured a N10 bn Agricultural loan for oil palm plantation for the State Civil Servants from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

UNESCO adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity in 2001, and in December 2002, the UN General Assembly, in its resolution 57/249, declared May 21 to be the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

The Second Committee of the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted the resolution on Culture and Sustainable Development A/C.2/70/L.59 in 2015, affirming culture’s contribution to the three dimensions of sustainable development, acknowledging further the natural and cultural diversity of the world, and recognizing that cultures and civilizations can contribute to, and are crucial enablers of, sustainable development.

The day provides the world with an opportunity to deepen understanding of the values of cultural diversity and to advance the four goals of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.