The Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Otunba Biodun Ajiboye on Thursday, April 16, 2026, joined music enthusiasts at the Alliance Française de Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre in Lagos to celebrate the 25th year stage performance of talking drummer, Aralola Olamuyima, popularly known as Ara.
The event was organized to commemorate the enduring voice of the talking drum as well as its cultural significance as a medium of communication, channel for diplomacy, and instrument of social cohesion.
Speaking as Guest Speaker at the anniversary celebration with the theme “The Future of Drumming: Policy, Preservation and Prosperity”, Otunba Ajiboye, who delivered a paper titled “National Policy and Preservation of Indigenous Arts”, contended that although the talking drum is an art form currently at a crossroads of globalization and digital transformation, there is a need for a national policy framework for its protection and by extension, our cultural heritage.
Represented by the Director, Lagos Liaison Office, Ms. Victoria Overo,
the NICO Boss said no cultural asset can survive without a deliberate and structured national policy framework. “If culture is the soul of a nation, then policy is its shield. Indigenous arts, including drumming traditions, must move from the periphery of cultural discourse to the center of national development planning.”
He therefore proposed a four-pronged approach, which he stressed must include institutionalization of cultural education, provision of legal protection, establishment of cultural endowment funds, and promotion of the documentation and digitization of cultural assets.
While reiterating that the future of drumming should not be limited to culture alone but viewed in its economic perspective, Otunba Ajiboye urged cultural institutions, academia, the private sector, communities, custodians of culture, and youths to see the need to elevate indigenous arts to its highest level, saying government alone cannot carry the entire responsibility.
The event which was spiced with performances from the celebrant, Ara, was attended by dignitaries such as Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Idris Aregbe; Erelu Abiola Dosunmu who was Mother of the Day; President, Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Prince Pretty Okafor; and Registrar, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Ms. Toyin Naiwo.