Glo’s Ojude -Oba sponsorship: Empowering entrepreneurs, elevating culture ‎

Olumide Michael

Globacom’s 20-year sponsorship of the Ojude Oba festival has not only empowered new entrepreneurs but also taken the festival to the world stage.

The 2025 edition, which marked the company’s 20th anniversary of supporting the festival, saw Globacom reward participants with cars, tricycles, power generators, and other prizes.

‎The event, recently held in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, was a huge opportunity to reward various segments of the Ijebu society, as several winners smiled home with mouth-watering prizes, including two brand new cars, four Tricycles and other choice items, including Power Generating sets, grinding Machines and Sewing Machines.
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‎One winner of a brand new car was chosen by the Ijebu society through a nomination process that saw 52-year-old Opeoluwa Osisanwo receiving the keys to a brand new car at the event. Opeoluwa, a member of Egbe Tobalase Okunrin, was adjudged the most outstanding young leader in Ijebuland who has served the community diligently for years as Secretary of the Ojude Oba Festival Planning Committee.
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‎”I never knew people were watching me. I was just serving my land of birth to the best of my ability”, he said, while expressing appreciation to the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, and all members of the Committee “for allowing me to work with them not minding the fact that I am the youngest among them”.
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‎The other winner of a brand new car through the promo, Idowu Olabisi, a trader based in Ijebu Igbo, was ecstatic after receiving the keys. She said that Globacom indeed gave her a spectacular gift during the Eid period, as she had no inkling she would get such a car at this time.
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‎Four brand new Tricycles (Keke) were carted home by various winners from within and around Ijebu. The winners included Hassan Toheeb, a businessman based in Ijebu Itele; Adenike Olanrewaju a Plank seller at Molipa, Ijebu Ode; Gazal Temitope, a trader who resides at Olisa, Ijebu Ode; and Lawal Tosin, a carpenter in Ijebu Ode.
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‎Chief Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State, and Barrister Hannatu Musa-Musawa, the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism & Creative Economy, as well as the Olorogun Sunny Kuku, the Ogbeni Oja of Ijebuland, were in attendance. The Governor, in his goodwill message at the event, lauded the six decades reign of the Awujale as that of “purposeful leadership, progressive vision and unwavering commitment to the upliftment of Ijebuland and the entire Ogun State”, while Barrister Musawa, described the festival as a shinning testament of the “richness of our cultural diversity and the resilience of our traditional institutions in preserving history for future generations.”
‎Meanwhile, Glo’s sponsorship of this most important festival in the history of Nigeria has elevated the Ojude-Oba Festival to global prominence as the yearly event is on its way to gaining UNESCO heritage recognition.