Culture is said to be the total of the life of people, in a bid to inculcate and preserved her cultural values from her younger generation and protect it from extinction,the Mini carnival procession by the Izere nation to her historical sites and Towns was on Monday witness Izere Traditional Council,the Elders,Women and Youths trouping into the Jo’s Museum for the Rituals and Traditional ride,the people who are well known with her unique and Cherish culture and hospitality, and attractive dancing steps climb the Igbe kusok Inyak,meaning one hundred steps to the cradle and nucleus of Izere people. Taking the youths and the entire audience memory lane,the Chairman of the Izere Elders Council said they had since discovered grinding stones and other valuable artifacts that were used by the Izere ancestors that lived at top of the hills before moving to their present day locations. Among those that move further include the Irigwe,Jaba,Kagoro which forms the acronym, (JIKA) which Means Jaba,Irigwe,Kagoro,Kuteb,Afizere etc. He further explains that,the present St Theresa Catholic Church,Central Bank and many Edifices that surrounded the museum were the Izere settlements. The Traditional rulers and the Elders of Izere who took time and meticulously bless the Izere youths and the Izere nation for more blessings and God protection. After the rituals, the warriors, masquerades and all the audience descended from the hill and met with the women who are not allowed to witness such ritual rides that is only meant for men,they welcome the men with songs and dancing which turn the museum a tourist site for so many people the came en mass to catch the glimpse of their eyes.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the ceremony, the national President of the Afizere Cultural and community development Association (ACCDA) Ada Azi Waziri Atu,As we are about to mark and celebrate 41th Annual Ikoos Izere, we decided to make it a three days event not only one day is used to be. As you can see,today is for visiting of our historical Sites and Towns full of cultural values and some of our youths don’t know these historic and valuable cultural and tourists havens,we show it to them,here at the museum and Gog Magog around Gwafan(Lamingo) all in Jos North LGA.
Tomorrow is for a symposium which we will all gather at the Izere Arena which paper presentations will be done by the respected,quintessential and Erudite Izere Scholars on the way forward for us a nation.
This meseum is the cradle and just like the nucleus of the Izere nation is the center where Izere people first settled and then moved to the various parts of Izere Land and beyond,also other JIKA Ethnic groups migrated from here. This place have a lots of significance to the Izere people. The hill we climbed is not for everybody,it has to be by identification. In those days,it has to be discussed with Elders first and the place is not only meant for the rituals but equally use for discussing of important issues and if we don’t want outsiders to know that is why women are not allowed to climb there but only men.
We thank the present administration of Governor Simon Bako Lalong for his laudable projects on the Plateau,recently he installed and coronate our Paramount chief of second class status in Jos North,there are undergoing roads construction in Izere land particularly in Jos East LGA and he Pledge to complete them before the expiration of his tenure. This place is full of tourism potentials, what we are doing here today is to contribute our quota as a nation to tourism development on the Plateau so that more revenue can be generated . Next time we will invite boths state and federal ministries of culture and tourism,corporate organizations.
Azi,also stated that,the Izere culture is very rich and everybody on the Plateau and the world over cherish it especially our dancing steps
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