The director-general of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe, has lambasted the controversial Nigerian Internet personality and cross dresser, Okuneye Idris Olarenwaju, popularly known as Bobrisky, insisting that Bobrisky, whose contentious gender and amorous dress sense negates true Nigerian culture, which is respected all over the world, was not a cultural ambassador.
He was speaking at an event marking the World Handcrafts Day at the NCAC headquarters in Abuja and lamented the bastardisation of Nigeria’s culture and values by attention-seeking characters such as Bobrisky, who he described as a very bad example that the youth should not emulate. The NCAC boss lamented especially the use of social media by Bobrisky and his ilk to continually send bad signals to the world in what he called a totally false representation of Nigerian identity, stating that it must be put in check. He enjoined Nigerian youths to remain good cultural ambassadors of the country, emphasising that the global community respects only those who are able to sustain their unique cultural identities.
Speaking further, Runsewe said celebrating an event like the World Handcrafts Day was timely because, according to him, youth restiveness, kidnapping and other social vices in the land can be addressed through handcraft development, if given attention.
The World Handcrafts Day is celebrated ever June 10, and was started in 1964 as a way of reawakening the consciousness of people towards the development of handcrafts in the world. The World Handcrafts Council was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisatio and 90 countries, including Nigeria, have already joined it.